Playground in vision for Ala Moana Park

Mayor Kirk Caldwell is in discussions with a group trying to raise money for a public-private partnership that would establish and maintain a 1-acre playground at the Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Regional Park.

The arrangement could allow the group to put up, operate and maintain the playground, and might also include a small-scale concession of some sort, Caldwell said Monday at Ala Moana. Caldwell was at the park to announce the start of construction on a separate project for two sand volleyball courts being built by the city.

Ala Moana is Oahu’s most heavily used park, but it does not have any playground equipment within its 119 acres.

The effort is being spearheaded by a group of mothers, including Alana Kobayashi Pakkala and Tiffany Vara, both of whom testified last month in support of Bill 78 (2015). The bill allows private sponsorship of parks and other city facilities in exchange for allowing those who sponsor them to be recognized with a plaque, sign or in some other visual manner. Pakkala is executive vice president of the Kobayashi Group, one of the developers of the Park Lane luxury condominium project at Ala Moana Center.

Envisioned is what’s known as an “inclusive” or “universal” playground with features that would make it more inviting for youths with special needs, seniors and others for whom traditional playground equipment is uninviting.

Caldwell said it would cost as much as $3 million to create a playground with a concept that does not yet exist anywhere in Hawaii.

“It would be state-of-the-art; it would be designed so that people, kids, with disabilities could use,” the mayor said. “It could have zip lines, all kinds of really good things.”

It would also likely include a perimeter fence to keep children from running outside the playground, he said. Caldwell said the playground, expected to be open to the public during park hours, is tentatively scheduled to be mauka of the Diamond Head side shower-restroom facility and an L&L Drive-Inn concession.

Discussion is still in preliminary stages, and the city is exploring different options that would allow a section of the park to be used and maintained by the group, Caldwell said.

“It’s going to be funded by the private sector,” Caldwell said. “A group of women, mainly, are going to go around raising money for it.”

“The first step would be that we, as a city, need to provide them with the borders and how they are going to have control of this property through some kind of concession,” Caldwell said. “It could be a lease; it could be a concession; it could be any one of those things.”

The idea is not to give a contractor an avenue to make a profit, Caldwell said. “It’s basically (about) who’s going to operate it and maintain it.”

Those operating the playground won’t charge people to play there, but there could be a small concession with items that cater to children, he said. The proceeds would allow the group to recoup some of the money used to maintain the playground, he said.

Vara, a mother of five including a daughter with special needs, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday that she and Kobayashi have been discussing the concept of an inclusive park for a while. Hopefully, the concept will work well at Ala Moana and be a model for similar playgrounds in other sections of the island, she said.

The inclusive playground would be a place “where all children can actually play together, can interact with each other and feel a part of the community together, which is not what happens when you have to sit on the side and watch other people play,” Vara said. “What we’re really trying to create is a place where all children can grow through play. … The power of play is phenomenal in the development of a kid, and we’re just trying to make sure that every child has access to that kind of opportunity.”

The group, which is establishing itself as a nonprofit, hopes for contributions from corporations and individuals alike, Vara said.

The idea of a concession within the playground is not firm, she said. If one is established, it would not compete with L&L, but complement it primarily with small, essential items such as sunscreen, baby wipes and other “comfort items,” she said.

At his press conference Monday, Caldwell announced that two sand volleyball courts are being built on 11,000 square feet on an underused section along the Ewa side of the park, where beach volleyball enthusiasts have long gathered to play.

Carrying a price tag of $452,660, the area will include a 15-foot safety zone with a curbing perimeter, as well as permanent volleyball nets and poles. The project is expected to be done by the end of summer.

The project was welcomed heartily by representatives in the sand volleyball community, who called Hawaii the home of sand volleyball.

Play will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations will be taken.

Both the inclusive playground and sand volleyball courts are part of Caldwell’s nine-point plan to renovate and upgrade Ala Moana.