Human rights hui fights homeless camp

A human rights group wants the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to rethink its decision to give a three-year lease to the city for its homeless transition center.

The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, in its request for a contested case hearing on the matter, argued that the city should first have been required to conduct an environmental assessment examining the impacts such a project might have on the area or the people who are to stay there, Executive Director Kathryn Xian said.

The site is on 5 acres of vacant state land next to a University of Hawaii research facility and across from a private dirt bicycle motocross track. An earlier state Department of Health study suggested the site might contain contaminants because it was once a dump site.

The petition argues: "Turning a barren plot of toxic land into a two or more-year tent city is a major use change, one that would involve and result in lasting alteration of the parcel’s topology and future maintenance."

Jesse Broder Van Dyke, Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s spokes­man, said in a statement Monday that the city is working with health officials on evaluating and mitigating any environmental concerns.

"The city has committed to BLNR and the community that the project will not move forward at Sand Island without the approval of DOH," he said.

The BLNR approval of the lease Sept. 12 was conditional on several things, including a decision on the anticipated contested case filling. If granted a contested case hearing, the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery’s request would, at the least, drag out the approval process and delay opening of the center.

City officials were hoping it could be open in two to three months.

In the quasi-judicial contested case proceeding, all sides pre­sent their arguments to a hearing officer. Board member Christopher Yuen, who made the motion at the meeting to approve the lease with conditions, told colleagues that his understanding is that contested case proceedings are available only for the board’s land use decisions, not leases it issues.

BLNR spokeswoman Debo­rah Ward declined to comment on Yuen’s comments.

"Any written petition received will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for standing by (state attorneys) according to applicable rules," she said.

City officials describe the center as a temporary place for about 100 homeless individuals and families to set up tents and have access to services while officials work on more permanent housing for them under a $45 million Housing First program.