Long-delayed court-ordered construction to bring the closed NAS Swimming Pool up to Americans With Disabilities Act standards is going “full steam ahead,” according to Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina.
Cinder-block masonry walls are in the process being constructed on the pool’s site near Hilo International Airport.
“We’ve got a lot of momentum moving forward right now,” Messina said. “We’re about maybe 50% complete with the project. Because they’re rebuilding everything from the ground up, even the pool itself.”
The pool, which is popular with senior citizens and recreational lap swimmers, has been closed since March 2020. Messina estimated construction would be complete in “either November or December.”
The contract was awarded more than three years ago, in May 2020, to Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. at slightly less than $6.5 million.
Asked if pandemic-related supply chain issues, labor shortages or construction materials price hikes have caused change orders and an uptick in the project’s price tag, Messina replied, “Nothing major.”
“I think we’re still pretty much on track right now from the last update I got from our project guys,” he said.
One of the impediments pushing back the start of construction was 31 micro-housing units on the site’s parking lot.
“We had to get them out before we could start construction,” Messina said.
There were originally 32 of the tiny houses on the site, but one was damaged or destroyed by fire on June 16, 2022.
The temporary shelters of Hale Hanakahi were purchased with federal coronavirus relief funds and constructed in April 2020 to provide shelter for unhoused individuals under an emergency proclamation.
Hale Hanakahi ended operations in summer 2021 after the county was unable to secure a vendor to manage and operate such a facility.
According to the Office of Housing and Community Development, the units remained at the pool until summer 2022. They were relocated due to vandalism as well as to provide space for the pool project.
According to OHCD, the remaining 31 units were disbursed as follows: two to Neighborhood Place of Puna; two to HOPE Services Hawaii; 15 to the Department of Environmental Management; eight to the Department of Parks and Recreation; and four to Mass Transit.
According to county Housing Administrator Susan Kunz, OHCD can reactivate the units — which some recipients are using as storage sheds — as shelter in an emergency situation.
“Any decision to put the units back into use would require a thorough inspection of each structure to ensure it is in a suitable and safe condition to temporarily house members of our community,” said Kunz. “The county continues to explore options for the units.
“However, at this time, repurposing the structures for non-human use and keeping them functional is a better alternative to allowing the units to deteriorate in the elements or becoming a safety concern for our community.”
The scope of the work on the pool under the contract includes:
• Demolition of the existing 2,445-square-foot pool house and construction of a new 3,287-square-foot pool house with fully accessible spaces and expanded pump and filter room;
• Demolition of existing pool pump and filters, all supply and return lines, main pool drains, perimeter gutters and portions of pool basin and install of new filtration/circulation system, main pool drains, stainless steel gutters and new finish on basin;
• Demolition of the majority of the existing concrete pool deck and installation of new ADA-compliant concrete pool deck and system of trench drains;
• Demolition of bleachers and bleacher canopy and installation of new ADA-compliant bleachers and canopy;
• Construction of new accessible parking stalls and a new accessible route into the facility from the lot;
• Replacement and upsizing of waterlines and installation of site drainage improvements;
• Replacing on-site sewer lines and propane tank and lines.
The NAS pool is one of 16 facilities the county agreed to upgrade in a 1998 settlement of a federal lawsuit. Only six of the upgrades agreed to in the consent order have been completed.
The County Council approved a $25.5M general obligation bond float in July 2021 to finance the agreed-upon improvements.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.