Aiea town center can give seniors a real community

As Hawaii experiences double-digit growth in its senior population, the need for more suitable spaces for elders to live and to gather becomes more pressing. So the envisioned revitalization of the former Aiea Sugar Mill site — which would include senior housing and a community center — would be a good fit for the former plantation town.

While the development focus of late has been on building one glass tower after another in Kakaako, few nest eggs could cover the cost of a luxury condo with all the amenities. Also, it’s much more practical for senior citizens to age in place near familiar faces and surroundings. In Aiea, nearly 42 percent of the roughly 9,300 residents is 50 and older, underscoring the need for senior housing in that community.

The master plan for the city-owned site has been around for more than a decade, but stalled due to a lack of funding. In 2002, the city purchased 6.8 acres of land from Bank of Hawaii for nearly $8.9 million, including a top and bottom parcel at the sugar mill site.

As with many public projects, the city began to conceptualize the community’s vision, but it never went beyond the planning stages. A city spokesman said its new Office of Strategic Development is pursuing the senior housing concept for the site, which gives community members reason to hold the city’s feet to the fire and push officials so the project isn’t allowed to languish.

Although more than a decade has passed, the Aiea Community Association has kept the vision alive by working with University of Hawaii architecture and tropical plant and soil sciences students on updating renderings. Taking demographics, history of the area, economics and other information into account, the students tweaked original plans to include a multigenerational community gathering place, or “ohana park.”

The multigenerational space would include gardens, a senior exercise area, small retail shops and vendors, a playground, a dog park, performance and sports field and a community center. The hope, according to Claire Tamamoto, the association’s president, is to create a community gathering place that serves all ages, one that builds relationships and mutual respect between young and old.

That’s an ideal situation, well-suited for a long-standing residential neighborhood. Senior housing was suggested for the top parcel of the land under the 2002 master plan. Plans also called for the “Aiea Town Center” that would incorporate a day care, community meeting rooms and classes, an art center, an open market, and thrift and coffee or snack shops. Back then, the cost was estimated at $6 million and completion in six years.

Creating a vibrant community for our aging population falls in line with a 2011 AARP study that found an urgent need to provide livable communities for seniors — affordable and accessible housing in proximity to goods and services. In just six years there will be an additional 73,000 Hawaii residents who are age 65 and older, according to the AARP report on successful aging in the state.

There is no time to waste in laying the foundation for the shift in demographics. We’ve seen the effects of how decades of inaction have led to the current homeless crisis. Let’s not wait for a senior housing crisis to materialize.

Moving forward on the Aiea Sugar Mill revitalization project is a necessary step to better serve our aging kamaaina in their own communities.