KAHALU'U — Little League and Pop Warner teams will soon have a new home field as the city prepares to dedicate Kahalu'u Regional Park next month, decades after it became a community dream and eight years since construction began.

The community first sought to make the area a park in the mid-1970s along with plans for flood mitigation that created the 20-acre pond behind Hygienic Store on Kamehameha Highway.

The park project stalled over wetland issues and funding. But area representatives always backed the project and year after year moved it toward completion, said John Reppun, community leader and park backer.

The dedication is a good time to acknowledge all the people who helped make the park possible, including former mayors and Honolulu City Council members, said Reppun, executive director at KEY Project, a community center in Kahalu'u.

"The credit for this should go to the sustained focus of everybody from (councilmembers) Steve Holmes, David Kahanu, Donovan Dela Cruz, Toraki Matsumoto," he said. "It doesn't matter who, as they went into office they all took steps toward helping this to happen."

Park construction began in 2000 and the football, soccer and baseball fields were expected to be done in 2003. However, rocks and soil problems made playing there and growing grass impossible. Alternative solutions were tried and finally the city decided in 2006 to redo the whole playing field at a cost of $1.4 million, bringing the total cost to $5.3 million.

A few last-minute touches need to be completed, but the city has scheduled a dedication ceremony for mid-August, said Bill Brennan, city spokesman.

"We're waiting for the contractor to finish up some bare spots in the outfield, but that's all he has left to do," Brennan said. "They expect that work to be done in short order."

Reppun said staff from the city Department of Parks and Recreation and the KEY Project trimmed the naupaka bushes in front of the park last week in anticipation of the ceremony but he hasn't received an official announcement yet.

The park consists of about 40 acres, of which only about 10 acres are developed. It includes a wetland, passive areas, a walking path, parking and restroom facilities.

The community and KEY Project want to remain partners in the management of the park, Reppun said. A committee helped with park planning and now it should sustain a role in the park's operation, he said.

Reppun has mixed feelings about the opening, wishing more time could be spent organizing an opening ceremony but recognizing that the community has waited long enough.

"There's still some concern about irrigation and rocks, but I think it needs to be open," he said. "If you don't start using it, you don't know what needs to be done with it."