UH Board of Regents approves agreements with Board of Water Supply for Kakaako deep-well cooling project

Agreement will reduce potable water usage, energy usage and cost at new medical school

KAHULUI, Maui — At its meeting held this week at Maui Community College, the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) approved agreements with the Board of Water Supply (BWS) that will provide chilled water for air-conditioning purposes for the John A. Burns School of Medicine‘s (JABSOM) new Kakaʻako facilities. The agreements will result in the reduction of energy usage and cost, reduction of Oʻahu‘s potable water usage from natural resources, and promote the use of deep-well seawater cooling systems.

As part of the construction of the new JABSOM facilities, BWS funded the installation of a deep-well seawater cooling system that will provide chilled water for air-conditioning. Through the agreements approved, BWS will provide JABSOM with this chilled water service by leasing the central utility plant equipment from the university. JABSOM will save approximately $100,000 per year through this arrangement, and an estimated 14 million gallons of freshwater and 800,000 kWh annually will be conserved.

"A key feature of the design of the new Kakaʻako campus is its commitment to the use of environmentally friendly technologies. This deep well seawater cooling system is a win-win for the university, the Board of Water Supply and the environment," said JABSOM Acting Dean, Sam Shoemaker.

The BOR also approved the issuance of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the development of Phase II of the University of Hawaiʻi Biomedical site on the Kakaʻako waterfront. This will be the first step in a two-step RFQ/Request for Proposals process that will allow the university to identify and select a developer to enter into a comprehensive real estate development agreement (planning, design, finance, construction and management) for the project.

Phase II of the JABSOM site could include additional research space for JABSOM and other units of the university, private leasable space for bioscience companies, and an incubation facility for emerging life science companies.

In other action, the BOR authorized the scheduling of public hearings on proposed amendments to Title 20, Chapter 4, Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules relating to the determination of residency for tuition purposes. The amendments are aimed at tightening up the guidelines for non-residents converting to resident status for tuition purposes. They include:

1) housekeeping changes to update the residency policy by inclusion of new statutory language and deletion of an obsolete practice;

2) clarify and streamline the university‘s administrative practices and procedures related to residency;

3) clarify wording of the policies to allow greater stringency in the interpretation of the Rules for conversion of non-residency to resident status for tuition purposes;

4) revise the composition of the Committee on Resident Status that hears and decides on appeals, to ensure greater consistency of decisions; and

5) require payment of non-resident tuition, as opposed to resident tuition, while the student is in the appeal process.


The amendments will be effective in Fall 2005, beginning with students enrolling for the first time at a UH campus in Fall 2005. Public hearings will be held on the matter beginning in May 2005.

The Board also approved the appointment of Samuel T. Shoemaker as acting dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. In January, Dr. Ed Cadman took leave from his position as dean of the medical school for health reasons.