Hawaii County officials hope construction of the court-ordered improvements for Americans with disabilities at the NAS swimming pool near Hilo International Airport can begin soon.
Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. was awarded on May 3 for a little less than 6.5 million US dollars. The swimming pool, popular with senior citizens and leisure swimmers, has been closed since March 2020.
“We have not yet announced that we will continue,” said Maurice Messina, director of Parks and Recreation, last week. “The construction contract has been carried out in full and the contractor will provide the documents required for the project.
“We originally postponed the start of construction to accommodate the micro-apartments that were in place while we were processing our building permit applications.”
Messina said the 32 micro-apartments named Hale Hanakahi, used for emergency housing for the homeless, were closed last month. He said Parks and Rec are working with the county’s housing and community development department to find a new location for the units.
“We are working on some building permit issues and will issue the follow-up notice when the permit is fully secured and the micro-dwelling units have been relocated,” he said.
District Housing Manager Susan Kunz said the 29 people who were in Hale Hanakahi because of “the end of funds available to support the shelter” on the 9th. “
According to Kunz, four of the people moved to permanent accommodation, five refused to move to other accommodation and the rest were moved to other accommodation or temporary accommodation.
Kunz said the county “intends to continue using the units to provide emergency shelter for the homeless or after a disaster if the home is affected.”
The scope of work on the pool under the contract includes:
• Demolition of the existing 2,445 square meter pool house and construction of a new 3,287 square meter pool house with fully accessible rooms and an expanded pump and filter room;
• Demolition of the existing pool pump and filter, all supply and return pipes, main pool drains, edge channels and parts of the pool basin and installation of a new filter / circulation system, main pool drains, stainless steel troughs and new surface treatment of the basin;
• Demolition of most of the existing concrete pool deck and installation of a new ADA-compliant concrete pool deck and system of trench drains;
• Demolition of grandstands and grandstand roofing and installation of new ADA-compliant grandstands and roofing;
• Construction of new walkable parking spaces and a new walkable path from the parking lot to the facility;
• Replacement and extension of water pipes and installation of site drainage improvements;
• and replacement of sewer lines and propane tanks and lines on site.
“This project, which will cost around $ 7 million, is going to completely revamp one of our oldest pools on the island with so many new components that it feels like a brand new pool,” said Messina.
The NAS pool is one of 16 institutions that the district agreed to upgrade in a 1998 federal dispute settlement. Only six of the upgrades agreed in the consent request have been completed.
The county council approved a $ 25.5 general bond issue on July 21st to fund the agreed improvements.
The remaining parks in the consent order include:
• Paauilo Park, $ 2.77 million contract awarded to Nan Inc. on May 17, continuation announcement July 12;
• Kahuku Park, $ 1.495 million contract awarded to Isemoto on May 4th;
• Papaaloa Park, offer opening on May 20th;
• Pahala Swimming Pool, to be offered on August 23, offers to open on September 2;
• Richardson Ocean Park, intends to make an offer on September 7th; Offers to open on September 16;
• Milolii Beach Park, draft environmental impact assessment completed on August 8, 2020;
• Disappearing Sands Beach Park (also known as Magic Sands and Laaloa), an area special use permit approved by the Leeward Planning Commission on June 16;
• Kolekole Gulch Park, special use permit for the administrative area, approved by the Windward Planning Commission on January 7th;
• Improvements to the South Hilo Base Yard are also part of the consensus order and are included in the bond float.
Email John Burnett at [email protected].
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