The swimming pool at Palolo Valley District Park was slated to reopen in February, but the city determined that the retiling work done by a subcontractor was unacceptable.
Palolo Pool repairs
to resume this weekIf all goes smoothly, swimmers
could be back in the water
by the middle of August
Renovation work on Palolo Valley District Pool is expected to resume this week, but summer will be almost over before the pool reopens.
The city and a contractor reached a deal this week to complete the project that has been on hold for months. The renovation was delayed, in part, when the city rejected the original work as inadequate.
Contractor KD Construction Inc. has agreed to retile portions of the bottom of the pool instead of the entire floor, as the city had originally insisted.
A consultant identified areas that should be redone and indicated there wasn't a need to do the entire pool floor, said Tim Steinberger, director of the city Department of Design and Construction.
Steinberger said the retiling work is slated to start tomorrow or Friday, and is expected to be completed by the first week of August.
He noted that the pool will be turned over to the Parks and Recreation Department once the work is done.
He said he assumes that the pool will reopen in mid-August.
But "it's hard to say," said Steinberger of the reopening.
Darlene Nakayama, chairwoman of the Palolo Neighborhood Board, said the delay has affected many Palolo residents, especially during the summer.
Seniors and children who regularly use the pool were inconvenienced by the delay, and summer programs usually held at the pool were canceled.
"I want to know when the occupancy date is, when the water will go in and when people can go in," said Nakayama. "The completion date doesn't mean much. We want to know when the people can swim."
A consultant with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. will oversee the pool repairs.
Colin Leong of KD Construction said he had recently instructed the subcontractor, A-1 Construction, to gear up for the retiling work.
"We don't expect any surprises," said Leong. "All we're interested in is doing the best job we can and getting it ready for the public to use."
The pool has been closed for nearly a year for repair and renovation work. It was slated to reopen in February, but the city determined that the work done by KD Construction's subcontractor, A-1 Construction, was unacceptable. Some of the tiles were not sticking to the bottom of the floor properly.
The reopening of the pool was pushed back further because of dispute between KD Construction and the subcontractor.
The city had wanted contractors to redo the entire pool floor, but A-1 Construction said only a portion of it needed to be redone.
"We had a consultant that gave us one answer and another consultant that gave us another answer," said Steinberger. "We run into situations that something doesn't pan out. For the most part, 99 percent of our projects, we don't have a problem with."
City & County of Honolulu
www.co.honolulu.hi.us
