Kapolei park to get more parking
By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau
KAPOLEI — Responding to parents' concerns, the city plans to expand the parking lot at Kapolei Regional Park by Sept. 1, the opening day of youth soccer season, to accommodate the cars needed to bring the more than 1,000 players in the league to their games.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Games are scheduled all day Saturday during the season, and with only 53 parking stalls and limited street parking, parents are having to park farther away or to park illegally.
A shortage of parking at Kapolei Regional Park has prompted complaints from many parents of kids who play organized soccer there. The city plans to expand the parking lot by Sept. 1, opening day of the youth soccer season.
A dirt lot that owner Campbell Estate had let soccer families use is no longer available; it's now the construction site for the Kapolei Public Library. Street parking is hard to come by, and with 106 teams competing for the few spaces, several parents have opted out of the league rather than face the weekly headache, according to Leeward AYSO commissioner Obed Donlin.
Bill Balfour, Department of Parks & Recreation director, has committed to making more parking available by Sept. 1, but the details have not been worked out, said city spokeswoman Carol Costa.
She said the number of parking stalls, the location of the lot and the surfacing will be determined by the end of the week. The work will be done "in-house," Costa said, by the Parks Department's maintenance support and services staff.
Donlin said he will be very happy if the parking lot is built on time, but he remains skeptical. "Balfour has said this before and nothing has been done," Donlin said. "We have been asking for parking for more than a year, so I will believe it when I see it. I'll be the first to admit I was wrong if it really happens."
Campbell Estate is willing to open another dirt lot on Wakea Street for overflow cars, but it is being used by the library contractor for excess dirt and will not be available quickly, according to Nadine Lagaso, public relations specialist for the estate.
Donlin said he would like the city to make space for at least 100 cars in the parking lot addition.
Grace Pacific Corp. had offered to survey the new lot and grade the site for free, according to Georgette Stevens-Begley, the company's community support coordinator.
"The offer is on the table for the temporary parking lot until we can get a permanent one," Stevens-Begley said. "If city can do it, that is great. We just want to make sure it is done now rather than 10 years from now.
"The bottom line is we have to continue to promote healthy activities and soccer is one of them. Soccer serves a large number of kids and there are not that many other activities for our kids to do out here."
Donlin said in 10 days, teams from the Leeward region, which stretches from Makaha to Iroquois Point, will be playing on the nine fields.
"All I want for my people is worry-free parking," he said. "Most of these families have enough to worry about, enough stress in their lives without having to worry about something so simple as parking."
