Last year, rocks the size of golf balls surfaced, halting work until the city could fix that problem. The deputy director for the city Department of Design & Construction said most of the rocks have been removed but excess rain and watering by the landscape contractor has hampered grass growth.

"Everybody seems to think if something is not growing, you give it more water, but actually it seems that it's overwatered both from the rain and the irrigation," said Eugene Lee, deputy director for design and construction.

The city will resolve the problems by reducing irrigation, a solution offered by an agronomist, an expert in soil management and field crop production, Lee said.

It's the cheapest and simplest solution, according to Lee, who said that if it doesn't work, the city will take a different approach.

John Reppun, who has been a champion of the project for more than 25 years, suspects that the drainage problem may be more complicated and could take greater measures to resolve, but he's hoping the city can resolve it by summer.

Whatever the solution — and several have been discussed — it should be well thought out and properly initiated, Reppun said.

"What's really important is to do it right, not to fudge it, not to gloss it over and in two or three years down the road we're stuck with a drainage issue," he said.

Wilfred Ho, of the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said the project failed a recent inspection by the Parks Department because of rocks and the grass, but the grass was the worse problem.

People are not complaining about the slow progress, but many are disappointed that the park didn't open two years ago as planned, Ho said.

"They talk among themselves in Kahalu'u simply because their hearts were set on it," he said. "They've waited a long time for that field."

The plan is to allow the soil to dry out and replant paspalum grass in the bald spots, said Lester Inouye, landscape architect for the project.

Paspalum also is planted at the Kuhio and Queen Surf beach parks and is known for its salt tolerance, Inouye said, but it's the amount of water used that was the problem, he said.

According to the agronomist, the soil that was dredged from the nearby pond and now covers the field is very rich material — but because it's so fine, it holds water to the detriment of plants, Inouye explained. Normally, when a landscape contractor plants grass it is heavily watered and that improves growth, he said. That was not the case with the Kahalu'u field.

"So if we can let it dry out a little that will really help the whole situation," he said.

City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said the community has been working diligently with the city to get the park ready. If the plan doesn't work Dela Cruz, 2nd (Wahiawa, North Shore, 'Ahuimanu), said he would try to help.

"I've proposed funding in the fiscal year 2006 budget based on cost estimates provided by the Department of Design and Construction for the planning and design of drainage improvements needed to finish the park," Dela Cruz said. "Community members and the city have worked very hard over the years to complete this project."