A fitness center in Kahuku valued by many community members faces eviction after being caught up in litigation between its landlord and a family evicted from a neighboring home.
The plight of Ko‘olau Wellness Center appears to be collateral damage from the legal dispute and has divided the community with dueling online petitions to save or shut down the gym, which provides fitness classes, martial arts training, yoga and other programs.
“We’re in a hurt place,” said gym owner Tom McBride.
The trouble stems from management of the fourth phase of Kahuku Village, a former plantation community where a nonprofit maintains homes that were once part of Kahuku Sugar Plantation and were acquired by the city after the plantation’s 1971 closure.
The Kahuku Village Association, the nonprofit, pays the city $1 a year and rents the homes primarily to former plantation workers and their descendants.
KVA in 2013 arranged for
a CrossFit gym operator to rent a vacant former Hongwanji church building on the property to generate income that helps pay for housing costs, benefiting residents.
But a clash with the gym’s operation arose after KVA agreed in 2014 to rent a home 10 feet from the gym, a former church minister’s residence, to the family of Ana and Ulysses Manumaleuna, who shortly thereafter complained that noise from the gym was harming
a child of theirs who has autism and is sensitive to noise.
Efforts were made to mitigate noise but fell short and instead led to a plan by KVA to relocate the family to a home far from the gym after repairs could be made with the help of the gym owner.
Disagreements over the relocation plan led KVA to evict the family in 2019, and the Manumaleunas in turn sued KVA along with the city and McBride, contending that the eviction was retaliatory and discriminated against their disabled son.
KVA agreed last month to pay the family $1 million through insurance.
The city and McBride were not part of the settlement, but during the legal battle the Manumaleunas complained to the city and alleged in court that the gym, which McBride took over as an owner a few years after the dispute began, was illegally operating on city land zoned for residential use.
About a month ago city
officials reminded KVA that leasing the church building to a commercial enterprise violated zoning rules, so KVA told McBride that the gym has to close, according to McBride.
McBride is exploring whether he can obtain some sort of special permit to allow the gym to remain, and he has rallied public support with a Change.org campaign that has attracted about 11,000 supporters.
“When we opened the wellness center, we were hoping for a place of gathering like this building has always been,” Tara McBride, Tom’s wife, said in a video in the petition. “We’ve seen so many lives changed and such good things come out of this place. We want to do everything that we can to keep helping the community, and we need your help to do that.”
The video also features supporting messages from several gym employees, customers, village residents and Kahuku community members.
“It’d be a huge determent and a loss to our community if the wellness center were to close,” Uila Vendiola, a Kahuku High and Intermediate School vice principal, said in the video.
Customer Nancy Tarawhiti said in the video that the gym helped improve her weight and blood pressure.
“My health has changed in so many ways,” she said.
Around the same time, a counterpetition on the same platform solicited support for shutting down the gym as justice for the Manumaleunas.
This petition, started by Margaret Jean Lani Vanaman, has attracted about
800 supporters and alleges that Tom McBride threatened, terrorized and colluded with KVA to evict the family.
The opposition petition also wants the McBrides evicted from the home next to the gym, which KVA said it rented to the couple to avoid any future trouble over gym noise.
“The Manumaleunas won their wrongful eviction case against KVA … but this is not justice because the ILLEGAL GYM is still open and Tara and Tom who are NOT plantation descendants, are still occupying House #92,” the petition said.
Vanaman’s petition also claims that area residents hate the gym but are intimidated by KVA and risk retaliation or eviction if they complain.
“These people in support of the gym are from outside of the community,” the petition said.
A few supporters of this petition have made the ethnicity of Tom McBride, who is from Canada, an issue, using the term “haole and nonindigenous” as part of the opposition to the gym’s presence.
“This special place belongs to special people,” a comment from Tiffany Kaahanui said. “Get the hell out, outsiders.”
A couple of people expressed support for both sides, saying they signed both petitions.
“I use the gym now that there’s step classes but I’m a mom and have my own little family so couldn’t help but support both,” posted Tiana Tagoai. “Sad on both parties.”
