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Manoa park plan
promises more
for everyone

Cayetano may push Ala Wai park

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Tom Heinrich, chairman of the Manoa Neighborhood Board, thinks one of the difficulties of Manoa Valley District Park is the heavy attention given to baseball "and not as much to everything else."

But changes are in the works.

Among them is a perimeter pathway that would be used by walkers and joggers, as expected, and others as well.

"That's for everybody -- seniors, handicapped, kids, moms with strollers, you name it," Heinrich said. "And right now there's no easy way for all of those groups to get around the park."

The pathway is included in a draft environmental assessment for $8 million in park facility improvements for joint use by Manoa Elementary School and the community.

The major proposed addition is a $6.5 million multipurpose building with bleachers able to seat up to 500 people.

The city has set aside $2.5 million for fiscal 1999-2000; the state has provided $4 million; and the city has budgeted an additional $1.5 million to implement related improvements.

With the undertaking still in the preliminary stages, no date has been set yet for start and completion of construction.

Included in the new building would be two full-size indoor basketball courts, placed end to end. Some school classrooms would be in the mauka portion, and limited kitchen facilities for use by community groups would be on the makai side.

The one-story structure would be located between the existing gym and the blacktop area of Manoa Elementary, and would require removal of a wooden classroom building now there.

Manoa Neighborhood Board member Milton Ragsdale sees the park master plan as a blueprint for the next 20 years or more.

Hundreds of people have taken part in the planning process and, when the current assessment work is done, more park meetings will be held with everyone invited, Ragsdale said.

Planning began in 1998 when the state Legislature set up a city, state and community task force to produce a master plan. A resulting list of desired improvements was submitted to the 1999 Legislature.

The existing gym -- which has only one basketball court -- would be renovated and retained. Also, a landscaped plaza would connect the new and existing gyms and would include outdoor furniture and lighting. The new building will be naturally cooled through louvered ventilation, and lighting will be energy-efficient.

The park now also has a swimming pool, outdoor tennis courts, volleyball court, meeting rooms, playing fields and parking lots. Current park activities include softball, flag football, baseball, basketball and Pop Warner football.

One of the objectives of the improvements is to upgrade run-down facilities that are inadequate for the present volume of use while enhancing access, efficiency, effectiveness, safety and security.

In earlier community meetings, residents worried the new facilities would bring traffic headaches. But the draft assessment concludes that additional traffic will be minimal and existing roadways can handle it.

Room for play Comments on the draft environmental assessment should be submitted by Feb. 7 to the City Department of Design and Construction, 650 S. King St., Honolulu 96813. Copies of these comments also should go to: State Office of Environmental Quality Control, 235 S. Beretania St., Suite 702, Honolulu 96813. Consultant, PBR Hawaii, Pacific Tower, Suite 650, 1001 Bishop St., Honolulu 96813.