KIHEI, Maui — Sports enthusiasts in south Maui are hoping that longstanding plans for a 45-acre district park with a 1,096-seat gymnasium and soccer, softball and baseball fields will find new fans in the county administration and council that take office Tuesday.

Kihei is the only district in the county without a public gym. Basketball games are conducted outdoors at Kalama Park or Kamali'i Elementary School, where scorching heat and rainouts are just two of the challenges youth league organizers face. Lack of an indoor facility in the fast-growing visitor-oriented community of 23,000 residents also has curtailed county recreation programs.

"Right now we're limited in the programs we can offer, because we don't have a gym. We hold youth basketball outdoors and it's frustrating watching kids go out and try to play in the hot sun," said Kaeo Ah Sau, head of recreation for south Maui. "We don't run a volleyball program because it's difficult to do it outdoors, and there are other smaller sports like badminton that we're not able to deal with."

Jay Boyer has been coaching youth basketball in south Maui for three years, and this season is handling two teams in the 5-6 and 11-12 age groups.

"I don't understand. They build up more and more houses in Kihei for more and more families but they just forgot about the kids," Boyer said. "They need more places to go to exercise."

VanKevin Ramento, 13, who was shooting baskets last week at Kalama Park, was excited to hear of plans for a new gym in Kihei. "When it rains we can't play," he said of the existing outdoor facilities.

County recreation chief Tamara Horcajo said safety is another issue. "We see a lot of knee injuries from playing outdoors on hard courts and, of course, it's pretty hot in Kihei. I'm sure families down there are looking forward to having an indoor space for their children to learn the basics of sports," she said.

With no high school in south Maui to offer athletic facilities, most of the area's land-based recreational activities are crammed into 36-acre Kalama Park, which has beach access, baseball, Little League and softball fields, basketball and tennis courts, an inline skating rink and skate park, a large playground, a performance gazebo and picnic areas.

The South Maui Community Park has been a top construction priority for the Department of Parks and Recreation, but previous funding requests for the $22 million project did not survive the county budget process. Horcajo said the park is a "high-budget item," and with so many older park facilities in need of repair and maintenance, those have been the department's spending focus.

Jo Anne Johnson, chairwoman of the council's Parks and Economic Development Committee, said that in recent years the county has been directing its dollars toward sewers and other infrastructure affecting public health and safety. But there is belated recognition statewide of the importance of the environment and parks and recreational areas to residents and tourists, she said.

Although Johnson, who was re-elected in November, is unsure whether she will continue as parks committee chairwoman after the new council takes office Tuesday, she said she will still advocate for construction of the park, perhaps to have it developed in phases to spread out the costs. With record county revenues and carryover savings, she said, the project has its best chance yet of receiving funding as long as public support remains strong.

And with Horcajo set to take over as director of the Department of Parks and Recreation under mayor-elect Charmaine Tavares, herself a former county parks director, the time may indeed be right for the Kihei park to get a boost.

In the meantime, parks department officials, hopeful of an eventual go-ahead for construction, continue the time-consuming process of obtaining a variety of approvals, including a shoreline management area permit, project district zoning, and a permit to use reclaimed wastewater for irrigation.

The park is proposed for a vacant property overgrown with kiawe trees and weeds that sits within a developed area of south Kihei. It is on the makai side of Pi'ilani Highway, adjacent to Lokelani Intermediate School and between Haleku'ai and Welakahao streets. Approximately two acres in the southwest corner will be the future site of the Kihei Recycling and Redemption Center.

Plans call for the gym, multi-use courts, three soccer fields, three baseball and softball fields, a pavilion and amphitheater, 480 bleacher seats, three comfort stations, and an accessory building and storage area for park maintenance equipment.

Parks department planner Patrick Matsui said the first phase would cost $11 million and include construction of the gym and one soccer and ball field each.

A draft supplemental environmental assessment for the project has concluded it will not result in any significant environmental impacts to surrounding properties, nearshore waters, natural resources, or archaeological and historic resources on the site or in the immediate area. Jan. 22 is the deadline for public comment on the draft assessment.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.