Kaimuki parking lot repaving work delayed for 2 weeks

Kaimuki business owners and their customers will get at least a two-week reprieve from an initially scheduled Monday start date for an eight-month-long parking lot repaving project they believe will wreak havoc on their businesses.

City officials made the decision Tuesday after about a dozen business owners showed up at Honolulu Hale to voice their displeasure. They also asked that the project be delayed until January so they can make arrangements to find additional stalls elsewhere.

Merchants, restaurateurs and other business owners said they found out about the project last month — not nearly enough time to deal with the change in a neighborhood that historically has had severe parking issues. They also questioned why it’s supposed to take eight months to complete a $2.1 million repaving project with 106 stalls.

Mark Yonamine, director of the city Department of Design and Construction, agreed to delay the start of construction until at least March 30, city spokeswoman Brandi Higa said. As for the request to push the project back even further, “the city is looking into whether that’s possible,” Higa said.

Higa said the two-week delay won’t cost the city any money.

Gayla Young, owner of Pipeline Bakeshop and Creamery, said two weeks isn’t enough time to find alternate locations and educate the public about the situation, but it will give the owners time to determine their next move.

The city is expected to show up at a Kaimuki Neighborhood Board meeting Tuesday to provide an update.

Young, whose sweets shop opened about four years ago, said the city repaved the parking lot about two years ago, and she doesn’t understand why it’s being done again so soon.

“We’re not entirely opposed to the project; we’re opposed to the way it was presented and the scope of the project,” Young said.

Young said the business owners learned the city estimated the project would take eight months and sought bidders based on that timeline.

Even if a delay ends up costing the city money, it will be a small amount compared with how much a rushed and ill-planned project would end up costing the affected mostly mom-and-pop businesses, she said.

Ted Mays, owner of the Gecko Books shop, said the repaving job two years ago went only 1-1/2 inches deep and was completed along the lot’s lanes, not the actual stalls. He said this might be the first time in the 34 years he’s been operating out of Kaimuki that a thorough, 3-inch-deep repaving will be done of the entire lot.

But like Young, he’s frustrated that merchants were given short notice and that the latest project will take eight months.

He’s been staying up nights worrying about how the situation, coupled with the potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 virus, might hurt business. Mays said he’s seriously considering starting a phone-in, curbside pickup service.

City officials said not all of the stalls in the lot will be closed at the same time and that the project, for which Road Builders LLC has the contract, will be done in three phases.

Meanwhile, the city is reaching out to the owners of nearby lots for alternative parking options, Higa said.

Among the areas being suggested are the former Liliuokalani Elementary School, which has housed Department of Education administrative offices since being closed several years ago, and the Kaimuki Public Library.