A long-discussed project to build a Hawaii County-operated park in Hawaiian Paradise Park will be reintroduced next month.
A master plan for a 20-acre district park in HPP began development back in 2018, proposing facilities such as a baseball diamond, soccer field, covered play court, skate park, community center and more, based on feedback from the community at the time. The project would be built on a county-owned parcel on Kaloli Drive between 25th and 26th avenues.
Six years later, that plan will once again come before HPP residents at a community meeting on Oct. 2 as the county prepares to seek funding for the project.
Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina said the intervening years since 2018 have been spent completing the master plan and preparing for the project’s environmental assessment, the first draft of which he hopes will be published in October.
If all goes on schedule, Messina said the final assessment could be published in January, which will allow the county to finalize the project design and seek funding for construction.
“The whole project right now depends on what kind of funding we can get,” said Messina, who estimated the cost of building the park could be about $100 million. “A project this size, we’ll need to engage all our partners (for funding).”
Depending on how much initial funding the county can secure, Messina said construction of the park could be carried out in phases. In that case, public feedback will help the county determine which park features should be prioritized for earlier phases.
“Ideally, I’d like if we’re able to build it all out at once,” said Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who said her office pushed to get funding for the environmental assessment, currently in development. “For one thing, the longer we take, the more expensive it gets to build.”
Kierkiewicz said there is a “hunger” for more public spaces among HPP residents. While the subdivision has more than 13,000 residents, according to U.S. Census data, it has no county park of its own, and Kierkiewicz said some open spaces managed by the HPP Owners Association are insufficient for what has been called the second-largest private subdivision in the United States.
Messina said the nearest county park facilities are the William “Billy” Kenoi District Park and the Herbert C. Shipman Park in Keaau. But those facilities, he added, are already serving their own growing communities.
Unlike those other parks, however, Messina said the HPP district park will be tightly constrained in its area.
“We’ve got to figure out how to squeeze in everything that the community wants,” Messina said.
The October community meeting is required in order to complete the environmental assessment, but Messina said it also will be valuable for residents, considering how much the subdivision has grown since 2018.
“There are newer residents living there now who didn’t know this was happening, who haven’t seen this plan,” Messina said.
In addition to the population growth, Kierkiewicz said other things have changed since 2018 — significantly, a volcanic eruption in lower Puna and a global pandemic.
“We’ve got to think beyond recreation,” Kierkiewicz said. “We have to plan long-term for what we can use the space for.”
The community meeting about the park will take place from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 2 at the HPPOA Community Center.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
