Kailua residents opposed to a residential home for the mentally ill yesterday overflowed from a hearing room where a state agency considered whether the facility is needed.

However, testimony about the need for the facility was overshadowed as opponent after opponent argued that such a facility is not needed in a two-dwelling lot across from a sewage treatment facility and near an elementary school, park and military base.

The public informational hearing before the state Health Planning and Development Agency was part of the process in determining whether to issue CARE Hawai'i a certificate of need to move its 22-bed facility from the Hawai'i State Hospital grounds to 110 Kane'ohe Bay Drive in 'Aikahi. The cottages now occupied by clients of the for-profit mental health treatment provider are being converted for use by a separate hospital program.

Joel Pedrina, who has worked in the facilities department of the State Hospital for 28 years, questioned whether a two-person staff would be able to handle any violent incidents that could occur in a residential facility.

"I'm not sure whether one nurse or mental health technician could handle that," he said. Pedrina also wondered whether the walls of a house would be reinforced enough to contain a violent person.

But Tina McLaughlin, president of CARE Hawai'i, said the level of staffing has not been a problem, particularly given the types of patients who could be moved into a community setting.

"We will not be placing any individuals in the community who pose a risk of violence or sexual offense," she said. "There will not be any sexual offenders in this program."

Although the certificate of need criteria does not consider appropriateness of the location, many of the more than 50 residents who signed up to testify said the location would have a negative impact on the quality of the proposed services, which is one of the criteria.

Emissions from the sewage treatment plant, noise from the children and military base and hostility from parents watching their kids in the park were all raised as potential problems for the residents of the special treatment facility.

'Aikahi Elementary School parent Eric Martin noted that one criteria for a certificate of need is support from the community.

"I think it's pretty apparent that this isn't really going to be supported by the community," he said. "They (residents) are not going to be monitored. They are not going to be forced to take their meds. They're going to be allowed to come and go as they please."

Martin said a big concern is that the residents will end up at the park where he drops off his kids in the morning. "They're going to have altercations with the parents going there," he said. "(Parents) seeing this type of person there are not going to be comfortable leaving their kids."

A decision on the certificate of need is expected within 30 days.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.