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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PRC 2019/04/23 2018-2020Committee on Parks and Recreation I't Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii April 23, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Parks and Recreation was called ORDER: to order at 1:07 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member (came in later) Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: CC)N4N4T TNT - CATIONS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. (There were none.) CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. So, now we go on to Communications. Mr. Clerk, please read in Communication 210. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. Comm. 210: REQUESTS AN UPDATE BY THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT REGARDING THE KUAWA BALL FIELDS PARK From Council Member Susan L. K. Lee Loy, dated March 27, 2019. Motion to Approve: Ms. Lee Loy moved to close file on Communication 210. Seconded by Ms. Eof£ CHR. POINDEXTER: Council Member Lee Loy. PRC -1 April 23, 2019 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I understand that our Parks Director, Roxcie Waltjen is in our Hilo Chambers. And then in our Kona Chambers, we have Deputy Director, Maurice Messina. Just as a precursor for the rest of my colleagues, this particular park has been struggling to get opened, and recently there was a news article regarding the delays. So, in an effort to bring the larger public up to speed and allow the Department of Parks and Recreation to provide a status update, I thought this was the clearest and most expedient way for everybody to get good information in a timely and a succinct manner. So with that, Director Waltjen, I'm trusting that you will go first on this one? (Note: At this time, Parks and Recreation Director Roxcie Waltjen and Deputy Director Maurice Messina came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. WALTJEN: Yes, thank you. Roxcie Waltjen, Parks and Recreation Director. In providing you an update on the Kauwa Field status, I'd like to go back to when the project was started, which was on March 20th, 2016. That was the effective date that the notice was given to proceed. Then in October of 2016, the original contract was completed. Our first change order was done on May 2na 2017. So, for a period of that amount of time, they were constructing the field and doing what they needed to do. A second change order was done in June of 2017. And then it was determined that there wasn't the right crowning on the field and that the field wasn't properly draining. At that time, we revised the contract and we started a 90 -day grassing maintenance period in August of 2017. And in November, the 90 -day grassing maintenance period ended. And the date of the final inspection was in December of 2017. But in January through March of 2018, the Department of Parks and Recreation, Isemoto, and SSFM worked out a plan to regrade the field to address the recurring drainage and ponding issues. In June and July of 2018, Isemoto regraded the field to provide a down at the center of the field, goalpost to goalpost. In August of 2018, the Department of Public Works constructed new swales and installed three shallow drywells and perforated drainpipes at the east and west edges of the multipurpose field. The Department of Parks and Recreation installed subsurface drainage lines at the perimeter of the baseball infield. In August of 2018, we did a hydroseed application. In November of 2018, the contractor applied fertilizer at the multipurpose field. In March 10th of 2019, the Boy Scouts Troop 19 Service Project removed the exposed rocks and filled in low spots at the multipurpose field. In April of 2019, the contractor mowed and aerated the multipurpose field. The contractor two weeks after that applied 1.25 of fertilizer at the multipurpose field and baseball field. One ton of enriched gypsum at the multipurpose field. In Page 2 PRC -1 April 23, 2019 May of 2019, the contractor will apply 40 of the organic mulch to top -dress the multipurpose field. The contractor has not been paid. We have not accepted the field at this time because we are not ready to accept it. At this point, our planner was down at the field this morning. He did walk the field; he did check on the grass. The grass is taking and the grass is a much deeper green color. So we do know that it is growing. If, in his professional opinion, if he had to estimate what kind of timeframe we're looking at, we're looking at Summer. There are some things that we need to consider regarding this project, you know, with all that has occurred. Following the re -grading of the work of the multipurpose field, we experienced a very rainy period that affected erosion of the multipurpose field surface and the ability of the grass to germinate and grow. We also then entered a very extended slow -growth period over the Winter months. In addition, we increased the cross -slope of the fields to almost two percent and introduced new swales to intercept surface runoff from the upper baseball field and to direct runoff to newly installed shallow drywells and perimeter drainpipes. Water flows best over grassed areas at slopes exceeding two percent, while grass surfaces for organized field sports are recommended to be less than one percent. So we kind of have a "Catch 22" there where the ideal of one requirement didn't match the second requirement. So, there was a 1.5 percent minimum for a football field unless the underground drainage is provided, then a one inch minimum is acceptable. To our knowledge, as of today, the drainage is working very, very well. We do not have a drainage problem, we are just waiting for the grass to grow. Now, if we were to put people on that field at this point in time, whatever grass or whatever accomplishments we've done in the past two to three weeks, it would be lost. Because abuse of the field or having people run over it back and forth is going to destroy whatever grass growth we have. There are some misconceptions about the park, and I think it would be a good time to clear it up. There is not a correlation between prior ponding in the park and sea level. The field's finished surface is at a nine to ten feet above sea level. We installed a six-foot deep shallow drywell and did not encounter any standing water. Another thing, we did not use contaminated soils for the park. Portions of the baseball field have soils contaminated with arsenic and lead underneath it. However, we covered those soils with geotextile microgrid, so anyone that digs will run into that before encountering the contaminated soil. And that is between 18 to 24 inches of clean imported soil. So the park is completely safe to play, with no contamination. Page 3 PRC -1 April 23, 2019 And thirdly, the original design of the multipurpose field did include a crown at the center of the field from goal post to goal post. But the cross -slopes were less than one percent, and there was not a swale included to intercept, run, and direct surface flow off the field surface. And that is why we had that runoff So, just to make it all clear, we are waiting for grass to grow. And as soon as the grass grows, we're expecting, in our professional opinion, we're expecting it to be ready for play early Summer, June. Any questions? MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Director and for all the background, and due diligence, and the timeline on this project. I do see Managing Director Will Okabe, and I just wanted to offer him an opportunity if there's anything else he wanted to add, or any other clarifications he wanted to make. (Note: At this time, Managing Director Will Okabe came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. OKABE: Thank you. I just wanted to say that, you know, Roxcie and her staff has done a great job in monitoring that field. We're very fortunate to be working with the contractor because he's been more than willing to accommodate that field to make it the best that it could possibly be. There were some concerns about the drainage and things, and it looks very, very nice now. And I'm sure that the community is very concerned about using that particular field, and we have addressed the situation. And hopefully, you know, Summer's just around the corner, and hopefully that particular field will be available to our community members. Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Okabe. We also have Deputy Director Maurice Messina. Anything else, Mr. Messina? MR. MESSINA: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Just wanted to let you guys know that this field, what its purpose is going to be, a general -use field. We have plans for moving rugby and Pop Warner away from the Mo`ohea bandstand fields, that area. And also, to bring in T -ball to this field. So, we'll be able to ease some congestion at our other fields with this general purpose field, and those other uses. We, our staff, like Roxcie and Mr. Okabe said, you know, we really want to get this going as soon as possible. We really think that the extra work that our staff has actually put on the field in conjunction with Isemoto and in conjunction with our other partners, it's actually working. There's been a significant change in the field in just two weeks; I'm sorry, just in one week of the plan, the extra fertilizer and grass. So, we think we're actually getting close to the end. Page 4 PRC -1 April 23, 2019 MS. LEE LOY: Thank you everyone for all the background information. So, I'm just going to step into just some who, what, when, where, why questions. And during your presentation, Director Waltjen, you mentioned, you know, a second change order; a change in the contract. Just a thumbnail sketch or just maybe a rough estimate, what is the price tag for this project at this time? MS. WALTJEN: The price tag is the same as the original contract, $3.3 million. There was one change order of $147,153. All of the work that has been done to put in the drains and all this work to create the crown, most recently has not been charged. None of that has been charged to the County. It's all on the contractor, and the costs have been shared by SSFM and the contractor. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, and then I understand, I think the Boy Scouts are also chipping in helping. MS. WALTJEN: Boy Scouts. And we've had some other—we've had the Hawaii Community Correctional facility inmates also come down and assist, and we've had Boy Scout troops, yes. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. Earlier I heard you mention complete project timeline to be late Summer. My question is what are the contingency plans if we get to late Summer and the field is not ready? And then a follow-up question to that is, at what point do we make the hard business decision about what to really do with this park if those contingency plans fall through? MS. WALTJEN: Well at this point, I am 99 percent sure and positive that—and I am trusting that we are going to be successful in this. When I asked that $64 million question of the planner, he told me June is the month that he thinks that the grass will be ready and ready to open the field for play. And if it comes to the point that this field cannot be used for this purpose, then we can use this field for multipurpose play and just not use it for games. So it can be repurposed in a different way. Yes, absolutely. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you. So, kind of just the high level, the contingency plan will just be overall general use? MS. WALTJEN: Yes, maam. MS. LEE LOY: And not specifically for a particular sport like rugby. MS. WALTJEN: Yes, it could be used for multipurpose. It could be used for soccer and baseball practices, things of that sort. It is not a field for older people or young adults. It is a field for little kids. MS. LEE LOY: What do we know as far as parking capacity for that park as it relates to, like the general -use field? My larger concern is that it might have been Page 5 PRC -1 April 23, 2019 planned for specific uses like the rugby and the T -ball. And then we built parking around that, but if we have to fall back to the contingency plans, what are we looking for as far as parking? And then, there's no bathroom there, so I was just wondering what future plans were as it relates to bathrooms. MS. WALTJEN: We do have plans for a bathroom. In the beginning when we open up the park, we're going to be using portable toilets, but we do have plans that have been drawn to put a restroom facility on that site. MS. LEE LOY: The front end of the question was about parking. Do we have enough parking? MS. WALTJEN: We have enough parking for what we have there. There has been some thought as to, if we're going to expand, there might be a way to work toward either going on either side or working on reconfiguring the part of the parking lot and the roadway fronting Kuawa Park. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Director. And my final question really is more a broad -brush question about, you know, all too often we see these projects kind of slip into delays. And so, my larger question, and maybe Mr. Messina might want to jump in on this, is you know, what lessons have we learned? Is there a way to write better RFP's (Requests for Proposals)? Or, I just want to understand better just for the larger public, that we can use this as a teaching moment to plan for the unexpected, and hopefully think a little further around the curb. Director Waltjen or Mr. Messina, any thoughts? MS. WALTJEN: Well actually, this project was started during the last Administration. And sad to say that it started in May, and of course the Administration ended in December. And then a new Administration comes in and there is a learning curve of whenever you have a change in Administration or a change of who's going to be in charge of things. In comes a new director, a new deputy, and seven months later that deputy resigned. That deputy and director resigned, and then I came on board. So, there was definitely a settling, a down time. But since coming on board and two weeks after, we have been steadily monitoring and working with this field. We have done many, many things. And I haveI can give all of the Council people a copy of this email. I can send it to all of you—that has a chronological, where you have dates and everything. Expenditures on here and what has been done by whom, and how everyone just pulled together to make this work. Mayor Kim was consulted at the onset and he, too wants this field to be opened. And he was very positive in working with the contractor and with the engineers so that we could all work together and get this done. MS. LEE LOY: Mr. Messina, any thoughts on the lessons learned? Page 6 PRC -1 April 23, 2019 MR. MESSINA: One of the things that we have implemented, the Director has made sure on all of our projects moving forward, not just this one, but this has been something that was implemented a while back. Every new project we have now, we bring in all of our players in our department. All of our experts in our department to look at the plans. Not just the field plans, but all the fixtures; everything that goes along with every single one of our projects. That way we have a whole group of guys, men and women, that are looking at every one of our projects. So, it's not just on our planners' and our project managers' shoulders anymore. Roxcie has made sure that we get everybody at the table; look at all of our contingencies; what could go bad; what time of the year is this coming up; what time of the year is this project happening; what lessons have we learned from other projects. So, I believe under her administration, that we have made a big difference, even if you just look at how we are handling right now, KCAC (Kona Community Aquatic Center) pool. Bringing everybody to the table, making sure everybody has a voice at the table, and all those voices are heard and we move forward with that. So, yes, our contingency plans, what we've done to make a difference in this is a lot more minds and a lot more heads on everything that we do. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Mr. Messina. I think at the end of the day, you know, the public is really just wanting to insure that their public tax dollars are being used effectively and efficiently. With that, I do appreciate that stakeholder touchpoint, not only within the department, but the community that is going to use it. And I'd just like to think of it as picking the fruit all the way to making the jam, right? So, when you have the frontloading with the planners, but also the park caretakers at the table talking about what this field or what a project looks like, I think goes a long way to standing that up. Thank you folks so much. Ms. Waltjen, thank you for that thorough explanation. If you don't mind sharing that background report that you have with all of the timelines and the dates along with the amounts, you could just forward it to my office. MS. WALTJEN: Absolutely. I will email all of you. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you again. MS. WALTJEN: Thank you. MS. LEE LOY: Chair, I yield. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay. Any questions for the department? No? Okay. Ready to vote on closing file on Communication 210, all those in favor say "aye." Page 7 PRC-1 April 23,2019 Vote on Comm. 210: The vote to recommend close file on Communication 210, (Approved) was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Poindexter— 8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, Communication 210 is filed. Can I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 1:29 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Richards, Villegas, and Chair Poindexter—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder— 1. Excused: None. CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, meeting is adjourned. Approved: May 14, 2019 Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Chair (Date) Parks and Recreation Committee VP/dt Page 8