Wednesday September 21, 2005

County approves farm village for disabled
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer

PAIA – A plan for a farm village for disabled adults has received a new lease on life.

After a proposal to purchase a 38-acre parcel in Waihee fell through, the La’a Kea Foundation’s dream of a residential facility for adults with developmental disabilities was on hold for more than a year.

But Maui County found a piece of county land in Paia that could be an alternative site and the Maui County Council on Friday approved a 55-year lease to answer the foundation’s prayers.

“We are so grateful the county was willing to come and get involved in this project. This could potentially be a flagship in the state,” said Andrea Hall Rodgers, executive director of the foundation.

“It’s very exciting. We are very passionate about it,” said foundation board Vice President Amanda Martin. “My nephew is blind and autistic. My sister and I would have conversations: What do we do when Troyden comes of age, an adult?

“Here’s our answer,” she said. “I think it’s a great thing for Maui County to step up to the plate and be a leader to the state.”

The county lease is for a 12-acre parcel along Baldwin Avenue near Doris Todd Memorial Christian School. La’a Kea will transform the site into a village for the clients. The village will include a main house, smaller housing units, and other structures for a farmers market, greenhouse and crafts building.

The development will provide both supervision and work opportunities for the developmentally disabled in a community setting.

The property now is a vacant lot covered with weeds and a few junked cars, Rodgers said. The foundation will need to complete an environmental assessment and obtain a water meter before it can proceed, but she hopes building can begin in the next six months and at least part of the village can be up and running in the next 18 months. The project cost is estimated at $12 million.

The foundation has grant moneys to get work started, but will apply for additional grants and conduct fundraisers.

When completed, the La’a Kea village will accommodate 40 to 50 mentally retarded and developmentally disabled adults with about 25 live-in staff members, Rodgers said.

In addition to providing a program for the disabled, the project will ease the demand in one segment of Maui’s tight, affordable housing market, she said. There is a great need for housing for developmentally disabled and mentally retarded adults on Maui, with Rodgers estimating the population at more than 400.

Less than 5 percent of that adult population has any chance for residential placement, she said.

The ARC of Maui has four homes, with a capacity of 19 beds, Rodgers said. The La’a Kea Foundation village will double the number of units to start meeting the need in the community.

Founded to develop the village, the foundation has a name, La’a Kea, that organizers said means sacred light, light of day and light that illuminates. Board member Christina Chang, who started the foundation in 1999, named it after her autistic daughter, Malia La’a Kea Angelica Chang.

Mayor Alan Arakawa said he was pleased that the project is moving forward. He met with Rodgers and the foundation more than a year ago to discuss the need.

“We have been working on this very diligently,” he said. “What we are looking at is providing homes for the entire county.”

But it takes more than county government to proceed with meeting a need, he said.

“We always appreciate members of the community coming out and driving some of these projects,” he said.

Arakawa added that former Executive Assistant Mele Carroll, now a member of the state House of Representatives, had a role in identifying the Paia site and moving the lease request forward.

Rodgers said the La’a Kea village is inspired by the Camphill movement, which has set up more than 100 Camphill communities in 22 countries. The Camphill model focuses on each person’s abilities, not the disabilities, and Camphill community members teach and learn from one another in a process of interaction, she said.

The Maui village will be agriculturally based for residents with disabilities who are able to handle the repetitive tasks in farming. Similar villages across the country have specialized in areas such as woodworking and organic farming.

Martin said the project will help provide for Maui’s special-needs community.

Adults with disabilities “need to be somewhat independent and live a life of their own, not with mom and dad for the rest of their lives,” she said.

But the $1-a-year lease is only a start on a long-term project. A planning seminar for the village is scheduled by the La’a Kea Foundation and the Developmental Disabilities Council from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Cameron Center auditorium. For more information, call Rodgers at 281-3463 or visit the Web site www.laakea.org.

Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.