Kapolei Court Complex comes to completion

KAPOLEI—Family Court employees officially moved in to the Kapolei Court Complex situated on over 10 acres of land in Oahu’s “Second City.”

The Family Court’s move this month marks the final stage of transition for the complex, which had been in planning stages as far back as 1989.

Employees of the Juvenile Detention Home and of the Waianae District Court moved in to the nearly $125 million complex in March.

The relocation of court employees to Kapolei from Punchbowl cost the State Judiciary $24,886. Altogether, the staff took three separate “over-the-weekend” moves.

“Two of the three moves went well,” said Judiciary spokesperson Marsha Tikagawa. “As I recall, the Juvenile Detention Center move occurred on the day the State was under a tsunami alert. Needless to say, the movers really shifted into high gear to get everything from Alder Street to Kapolei before 10:00 a.m. that morning.”

The Kapolei complex will house 282 employees. The Punchbowl location will retain 81 employees aside from the administrative, circuit court, district court, and appellate employees housed at Kaahumanu Hale and other court facilities on Oahu.

The complex is intended to replace current family courtrooms, which were found to be too small to adequately conduct hearings and did not provide adequate separation of parties in often emotional settings. The Judiciary observed that, frequently, those who should be physically separated—such as victims and criminal defendants, or emotionally charged parties in divorce or custody proceedings—were placed in very close quarters. In addition, parties and witnesses would have to wait in an overcrowded area, while support service areas were also crowded with far too little space for records storage. Crowded offices also hampered efficient operations.

In 2005, the Judiciary obtained a $95 million legislative appropriation to build the new court complex and detention facility. However, during the planning process, escalating construction costs forced the Judiciary to eliminate certain elements and significantly scale down the size of both facilities to remain within budget. Nevertheless, construction costs continued to escalate, forcing the Judiciary to request additional funds from the Legislature. In 2007, another $25.2 million was received. The total estimated cost for planning, design, and construction of the project is $124.4 million.

The Hawaii House Judiciary Committee recently voted to pass a resolution, SCR 38, that recommends renaming complex the Ronald T.Y Moon Judicial Complex, after Hawaii’s current chief justice.

Moon was the leading advocate of the complex, which took more than 20 years of strategic planning and nearly three years of construction.

Moon served his first term as chief justice from 1993 to 2003 and is currently serving his second term; however he will be forced to retire this September when he turns 70. His legal career dates back to 1965, when Moon worked as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Martin Pence. In 1982, Moon was appointed to the Hawaii State Judiciary as a circuit court judge then soon after was elevated to the office of Associate Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme court before becoming chief justice.

“This is a fitting tribute to an individual who has shown extraordinary professionalism and leadership in his position as head of the Judiciary,” said Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, in a statement.