By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
MILILANI MAUKA — When Mililani Mauka District Park was dedicated with much fanfare in September, residents heard a grand development plan for the 16-acre site.
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| Bare ground and a dust barrier are all that mark the site of the planned Mililani Mauka District Park, dedicated in September.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser |
City plans included three baseball diamonds, two softball fields which also can be used for soccer, a gymnasium, four lighted tennis courts, two basketball courts, a playground area, a recreation building, 64 parking stalls and a comfort station.
But six months after the groundbreaking ceremonies, the site remains empty, enclosed by a 15-foot-high wall of black plastic to keep dirt from blowing onto nearby homes. And residents wonder what happened.
"We need parks," said resident Dan Aono. "Mililani has a large youth population that is very active in sports. If they doubled the number of parks we still wouldn’t have enough."
Alan Arakawa, vice president of development and construction at Castle & Cooke, said the project ran into some technical issues that needed to be resolved between the design engineer and the contractor.
"That has pretty much been worked out and we are going to start seeing work resume in the next couple weeks," Arakawa said.
"We’ve lost maybe two months. Weather permitting, we are going to be expediting the work because we know it is a concern and we want to bring it in as soon possible for the community."
Castle & Cooke plans to complete the grading work, put in an irrigation system and plant grass at the park as part of its required improvements in exchange for development permits. It then will deed the park to the city.
The property is valued at about $8 million, and the improvements will cost about $1.1 million, Arakawa said.
"Providing park space for our homes and residents is a key part of the community and something that we have to do," Arakawa said.
Arakawa said he expects the developer’s portion of the project to be completed by August.
Aono, president of the Central O‘ahu Youth Baseball League, said after the city takes over the property it will still be many months before any pitches are thrown at the new park.
"After Castle & Cooke turns it over to the city, it will still not be ready for organized sports," Aono said. "For baseball we need a backstop and other facilities."
With 550 players on 47 teams from ages 5 to 18, the Mililani pony league is one of the largest in state and growing, he said.
"We look forward to getting more parks because of the growth in the mauka area," Aono said.
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