Hawaiian Humane Society officials estimate at least half of the roughly 27,000 animals that enter its Moiliili facility annually could instead make their way to a new West Oahu site expected to be open in about two years.
D.R. Horton — Schuler Division, developer of the 11,750-home Hoopili project between Kapolei and Ewa, announced Tuesday that it is giving the Humane Society a 4-acre site for a second facility to accommodate animals in need.
The parcel is on undeveloped land near Fort Weaver and Old Fort Weaver roads, about a half-mile from the Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu.
Besides animal services such as sheltering for stray and lost animals, spaying and neutering, adoptions, lost and found, dog training classes and youth education, the Humane Society will operate a dog park, which will encompass about half the property and be open to the public, said Pamela Burns, the group’s president and CEO.
Burns said her organization has sought a West Oahu site since 1999. When the new site opens, at least half of the 27,000 animals that now enter the Moiliili shelter each year will instead go to the new site, she said.
"What we don’t know is how many more will need sheltering from West Oahu that are not being transported to our Moiliili shelter," Burns said.
A recent survey showed that while just over half of Oahu households have a pet, about 74 percent of West Oahu households own pets, Humane Society officials said.
Burns said she and Horton-Schuler have been discussing the gift for several years, although it wasn’t finalized until last week.
"Now that we’ve gotten the gift of land, we will begin our planning process as soon as possible," Burns said. "So we are working as quickly as possible to make this happen."
The dog park will be about 2.5 acres, significantly larger than the one the Humane Society opened at its Moiliili location in 1999.
The society is in the end stages of an $18 million capital improvements funding drive, and about half that money is slated for development of a new West Oahu campus, society board Chairman Richard Zwern said.
Burns said she expects about 25 new paid employees to work out of the West Oahu campus. She said the society also has 600 active volunteers, and "we know by opening a campus in West Oahu, we will attract many more volunteers from West Oahu to join our forces."
The Moiliili facility currently has about 85 full-time staff members.
If the society chooses to ask for additional help from the city, it might not get a warm reception from the Caldwell administration.
The organization has a current operating budget of $7.3 million, which includes $2.3 million from a contract with the city for animal services.
When it asked for additional funding in 2013 to meet the scope of its work, city officials balked. The two sides agreed to allow the group to reduce its field services.
Burns, whose group is on the second year of a one-year contract that allows for up to four extensions, said her organization hopes the city will consider increasing its contracted amount to reflect the expansion to the west side.
But Sheri Kajiwara, city customer services director, said the Humane Society’s new West Oahu site "does not affect their animal control contract with the city."
Kajiwara added, "They are still required to respond to dangerous-animal calls under their existing contract. Assuming their contract is renewed when the facility is completed in about two years, having this facility would make it easier on them to fulfill that existing contract because they would have another base to respond from and a drop-off point closer than Waialae."
State Rep. Matthew Lopresti (D, Ewa Villages-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach) said that in the two months he’s been at the Legislature, he’s fielded a number of calls and emails about the need for a dog park.
As for the other services provided by the Humane Society, "This is not going to serve the Ewa Plain, but Central Oahu and the whole Leeward Coast," Lopresti said. "It’s another quality-of-life issue."
Horton-Schuler is pursuing a rezoning of 1,554 acres between Ewa and Kapolei for Hoopili, the largest development project to go before the Honolulu City Council in at least two decades.
Cameron Nekota, Horton-Schuler vice president, said the land donation will proceed regardless of the fate of its rezoning request.
While supporters say the project will bring needed homes and jobs to the growing region, opponents argue that it is displacing prime agricultural land and will add more cars to an already congested traffic situation.
