A nearly complete county project will make festivalgoers at this year’s Merrie Monarch Festival a little more safe and a lot less muddy.
A nearly complete county project will make festivalgoers at this year’s Merrie Monarch Festival a little more safe and a lot less muddy.
Ten acres located at the Ho‘olulu Complex off Manono Street are being paved, bringing an end to an era of flooded gravel parking lots and poorly connected facilities.
The Ho‘olulu Complex includes the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium, Walter Victor Baseball Complex, Dr. Francis F.C. Wong Stadium and Aunty Sally Kaleohano’s Luau Hale.
The work is a collaboration between the county Department of Public Works and Department of Parks and Recreation, with funding coming from both departments’ budgets. Work began in early February and is set to be complete by the end of this month.
“It really helps reduce the cost and expedite the project,” said Parks and Recreation public information officer Jason Armstrong.
The total cost for paving and drainage work is $850,000. In addition to a cost reduction, doing the work (design and construction) in-house as opposed to going out for bid with an outside contractor made the project timeline much shorter.
The county began discussing the complex paving last December.
“It might not be the most expensive project in Hilo, but this will certainly be one of the most appreciated,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said. “It’s one of those projects that people talked about for many years.”
The considerable improvements to safety and convenience at the facility, particularly with the Merrie Monarch Festival approaching, are expected to have such impact that the Mayor’s Office reached out to the Tribune-Herald to discuss the project in person.
Asked why this project in particular prompted a meeting, Kenoi said the Ho‘olulu work was like his baby, given that the site is “the most heavily used area in East Hawaii.”
“Certain projects, you know, are the work of a lot of people,” he said, citing the work of Public Works Highway Division chief Neil Azevedo. “I’m not saying this is my project, but this project is because of the hardworking people (in the departments). It’s a very ambitious project. If it were easy or simple it would have been done decades ago.
“It was almost like local legend, that if there’s a Merrie Monarch, there’s a big event in Hilo, it’s gonna rain, and when it rains, it’s gonna flood,” Kenoi said. “It was grass and gravel, with no marked parking spaces, so it was very dangerous.”
Kenoi declined to answer questions not related to the improvements, specifically regarding the state attorney general’s investigation of his use of a county-issued credit card, known as a pCard, which became a statewide news story last year.
“No, we’re here talking about Ho‘ololu,” said Kenoi, who has rarely commented to news media since the pCard story broke. “I don’t want any more questions to talk about what we’ve already said. … I fully respect the process that’s been ongoing and is ongoing.”
Kenoi did address an upcoming county project, which will develop a multipurpose playing field for soccer and football off Kuawa Street and add bleachers and restrooms to the facility.
Work on that project will commence shortly, he said.
Previous work at the Ho‘olulu Complex included $3.5 million spent on stadium renovations. The Luau Hale and the Manono Street Butler Building also have been improved.
The roof of the civic auditorium is slated to be redone in the future.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.