Central Oahu Regional Park closure for maintenance planned

One of the largest city parks on the island will see closures this summer for the upkeep of its baseball and softball fields, the city announced recently.

The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation is undertaking a summertime field maintenance program this month at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park, 94-801 Kamehameha Highway in Waipahu. The planned in-house maintenance involves a three-month closure for two of the 12 ball fields through August.

The work, the city says, will allow the fields to “rest” while park staff revitalize them with aeration, weeding, leveling, grassing and similar efforts.

“We have been working with the permitted users on accommodating their needs as best they can,” said Nate Serota, a parks department spokesperson. “One of the main reasons we are only closing two of the 12 fields every season is to minimize the impact to the public and permitted users. There will still be 10 other ball fields available, weather permitting.”

The proposal is initially intended to last six years, starting with Adult Baseball Field 3 and Youth Baseball Field 2. The program’s success will determine whether the proposed annual maintenance will continue or be curtailed beyond 2028, the city says.

DPR will allow organizations to begin submitting permit requests in August for practice use of these fields starting in September. Permits are issued on a first-come, first-served basis, with some fields remaining designated for game use to preserve their condition for competition, the city says.

According to Serota, the work on the closed ball fields should not affect other parts of this park.

Opened in 2001, the 267-acre park is one of DPR’s largest and most premier park locations, the city says. It includes a dozen ball diamonds, an aquatics center, a 20-court tennis complex, a 20-lane archery range, a 12,800-square-foot off-leash dog park, several playgrounds, bathrooms and multipurpose fields all encompassed by a walking path.

The park itself is named after the late Patsy T. Mink, who was the first woman to represent Hawaii in Congress and the first woman of color and first Asian American in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, work being done at this park is similar to maintenance work at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Covering 288 acres and designed to serve 30,000 soccer players from around the island, the complex, at 93-061 Waipio Point Access Road in Waipahu, will close for all of June to complete needed soccer field maintenance and related repairs, the city also announced recently.

That complex is also the home field for the University of Hawaii women’s soccer team, the city says.