City builds a new base for West Oahu services
A maintenance yard will serve the growing Ewa and Kapolei area
Construction got under way yesterday on a new maintenance yard at Campbell Industrial Park that will be the base for future city improvements in West Oahu.
"This will be a full-service yard," said Larry Leopardi, city Road Division chief with the Department of Facility Maintenance. "This will have mechanical street sweeping, it will have a contingent of masons, it will have storm drain cleaning capability, it will have all the road pavement repair activities, sidewalk repair activities, signage repair, roadside signs.
"It will be a big improvement for the city."
The city's current yards are based in Pearl City and Waianae, but the population boom in West Oahu meant an increased workload and longer commutes for city crews heading to work assignments in Ewa and Kapolei.
"All the infrastructure is growing -- whenever you build out you have roads, you build sidewalks, you have gutters, you have curbs and all of that has to be maintained and repaired," Leopardi said. "So the footprint of the developed city is getting a lot larger and the city services have to accommodate that."
Once the Kapolei yard is completed, the Waianae base yard, which is currently on land leased from the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, will close and the operation will be moved to the new site.
The $8.5 million first phase sits on a 5.52-acre site acquired from the Estate of James Campbell and will include administrative offices with a meeting area, 24,000 square feet of parking for machinery, equipment storage areas, outdoor material storage, a fueling station and a caretaker's cottage. Construction is expected to be completed in September 2008.