ABOUT THE TOD MASTER PLAN UPDATE

Click here to view a full size version of the SMMH Conceptual Master Plan.

Hawaiʻi Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) hired the planning, design, and landscape architecture firm, PBR HAWAII & ASSOCIATES, INC. (PBR), to update the master plan previously completed by G70 in 2020 to consider greater integration of adjacent State lands and community needs in an effort to achieve the vision for a wellness village concept that is integrated in TOD. 

​The SMMH master plan was identified as a transit-oriented development (TOD) priority project in the State TOD Strategic Plan. In 2019, HHSC embarked on the master planning process to envision the future potential for SMMH and its 34-acre campus to serve the East Kaua‘i community into the future. The purpose of the project was to assess the current state of the hospital and determine improvements needed to address current and future health service needs and to determine options for better use of the State property to provide needed affordable housing, community services, and other uses, including those with revenue-generating potential.
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​The PBR HAWAII team has gathered community input and generated a Master Plan Report. Additional analyses are being carried out to prepare and process a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the resulting plan, seen above. 

​​A WELLNESS VILLAGE is an active, ​multi-generational, community engaged place that provides a continuum of quality care serving the healthcare, behavioral health, and long-term care needs.

TOD is compact, mixed-use development that takes advantage of and helps build transit ridership—creating more options for where we live and how we travel. TOD results in a mix of housing choices, employment and commercial opportunities, new recreational spaces, and provides the opportunity to walk, bike, and take transit for daily travel needs.

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ABOUT The Hospital

SMMH is the oldest operating hospital on Kaua‘i and is federally-designated as a Critical Access Hospital that provides essential access to high-quality healthcare in rural communities. Built and founded in 1917 as a tuberculosis hospital, it received its name from a member of the Wilcox family, who died of tuberculosis as a young man. In the 1960s, with a cure for tuberculosis well established, SMMH gradually transitioned to providing acute care, psychiatric care, skilled nursing care, and ancillary inpatient and outpatient services (HHSC, 2021)

The current hospital building was built in 1951. Other buildings on the 34-acre campus include a private residence that once served as the physician’s residence but is currently vacant, SMMH staff housing, Hoʻōla Lāhui Hawai‘i – Kaua‘i Community Health Center, and a Kaua‘i Police Activities League (KPAL) facility. The hospital has strong ties with the neighboring community, holding events such as bon dances and an annual Christmas tree lighting, for example. The hospital became part of the Kaua‘i Region of Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) in 1996.

​​​CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS provide essential access to high-quality healthcare in rural communities. This designation was created in response to a series of rural hospital closures during the 1980s and 1990s. The designation reduces the financial vulnerability of Critical Access Hospitals while improving access to care. It also allows healthcare to remain local instead of shifting to facilities further away. 

Southeastern view from center of campus.

Main SMMH facility.

Former physician's residence.

Looking west from northwest corner of campus.

Ho‘ola Lāhui Hawai‘i.

KPAL facility.

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ABOUT THE PROJECT AREA

The original 120 acres of the SMMH property were ceded lands in Kapa‘a, set aside by the Territorial Legislature for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a County Farm and Sanatorium for the treatment and care of persons afflicted with tuberculosis. Under Governor George Ariyoshi in 1987, further subdivision of the ceded lands occurred so that 60 acres were set aside to the Department of Health for the Samuel Mahelona Hospital. In 1998 the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) deeded the current 34 acres that make up the SMMH Campus to HHSC. The remaining portions were returned to BLNR’s land inventory, and eventually dispersed to other State agencies (G70, 2020).

Location map of the SMMH Campus and surrounding area. Click map for a full size version.

CEDED LANDS are the lands that were Crown Lands or Government Lands during the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, that were illegally taken from the native Hawaiian monarchy at the time of the 1893 overthrow, and that were subsequently ceded to the United States as public lands in 1898 without any compensation to Native Hawaiians. Upon statehood in 1959, the federal government returned to the State of Hawai‘i all ceded lands not set aside for its own use. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is authorized to collect, administer, and expend 20% of all funds derived from the lands for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.  

The five adjacent State tax map parcels include:

• DOH - TMK (4) 4-6-014:112 – The parcel contains the State of Hawai‘i Department of Health’s (DOH) Hale Hau‘oli, which is currently run by Easterseals under a contract with DOH. This facility provides Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) for youths and adults as well as Adult Day Care for anyone with developmental disabilities aged 22 and up. The long strip of land that contains the driveway for Hale Hauʻoli and connects to Kawaihau Road is also utilized by both Kapa‘a Elementary School and Kapaʻa High School for teacher and student parking as well as pick-up/drop-off traffic. The parcel was held by DOH under Executive Order (EO) 4623, but is in the process of being transferred in fee via a Land Patent Grant to HHSC as of December 2024.

• DLNR - TMK (4) 4-6-029:001 – Gore Park. The parcel is held by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), managed by the County of Kaua‘i (County) for park purposes under an Executive Order (EO).
• DLNR - TMK (4) 4-6-014:026 – Kaiakea Fire Station. Property to the east of the SMMH Campus. EO to the County. In order to develop the proposed housing on the flat area makai of Hale Hauʻoli and the connector road between the SMMH campus and Kūhiō Highway, the roughly 8.65-acre northern portion of the parcel is proposed to be incorporated into the Mahelona TOD MP.
• DLNR - TMK (4) 4-6-014:030 – This parcel includes the County boardwalk and other unimproved land. The parcel is held by DLNR. The County maintains an easement for the land under the boardwalk as well as 10 feet to either side of it. In 2005, DLNR EO’d the parcel to the County of Kaua‘i for the purpose of developing affordable housing. Due to a stipulation that the land needed to be acted on within three years, it returned to DLNR’s management.
• HPHA - TMK (4) 4-6-014:105 – Developed in 1977 for Hale Nana Kai O Kea Elderly Housing, is held under a Declaration of Trust by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and will remain under the control of Hawai'i Public Housing Authority (HPHA). 

There are four other nearby State parcels including:

• TMK (4) 4-6-014:031 and (4) 4-6-015:015 – Kapa‘a Elementary and Kapaʻa High Schools to the north of the SMMH campus managed by the Department of Education (DOE).
• TMK (4) 4-6- 014:111 – Friendship House. Property to the southeast of the SMMH Campus. Held by DOH, EO to the County.
• TMK (4) 4-6-014:110 –Kapa‘a Jehovah Witnesses. Property to the east of the boardwalk. Leased until 2056.

Gore Park.

View looking east over Hale Nana Kai O Kea Elderly Housing.

Hale Hau‘oli.

View from top of boardwalk.

North portion of driveway looking west.

School pick-up traffic.

Hale Nana Kai O Kea Elderly Housing.

South portion of driveway looking west.

SITE ANALYSIS

A site analysis of the SMMH campus and surrounding area is provided below. The campus is located on a bluff with steep slopes along the eastern edge. Because of the location on a bluff, the campus enjoys expansive, 180-degree makai views to the east. Looking south and west from the campus, one can see Kapa‘a Town and breathtaking mauka vistas. The campus is located along the Kapahi Shuttle Route (Kaua‘i Bus Route 60) which travels up Kawaihau Road with a stop in the hospital turnaround going north and a stop opposite the SMMH driveway on Kawaihau Road going south. The boardwalk, a popular public bike and pedestrian path, leads from the southwestern edge of the campus down to Kūhiō Highway where it connects with the coastal shared-use path—Ke Ala Hele Makalae. To the north of the campus at the Kawaihau Road and Mailihuna Road intersection, the County has completed a Safe Routes to School improvements including new sidewalks and a modified roundabout nicknamed the “peanut-a-bout” due to the shape and number of streets entering it. The new sidewalks will be maintained in the SMMH master plan. SMMH currently allows Kapa‘a Elementary School to use the grassy areas along the North driveway for informal parking during drop off and pick up times. However, better solutions are needed to help manage the school’s student drop off and pick up.

Click here to view a full size version of the Site Analysis.