A new park play ground on Oahu’s North Shore that was supposed to be opened by now remains off limits.
But parents say they’ve given up waiting.
The community waited a year for a new park playground, now disagreement between the city and the contractor is making kids wait longer.
A big, shiny, brand new park playground would attract most kids. But for keiki at Sunset Beach Elementary school, the site is off-limits, orange fencing meant to keep people out and parents want to know why.
"Overall it continues to be a problem, and then they need to fix it, but it seems like there is never any construction to fix anything," says parent Courtney Lee.
Lee is one of several North Shore parents who have been counting on new park equipment being installed here for the past year. But, she’s tired of waiting.
"We were really looking forward to having the whole playground ready and fixed before the summer because it was all done by May, before school got out last year. And then they said they had to fix something and then the whole summer it’s been like this," she says.
The city says after doing an inspection of the equipment there were corrections that needed to be made, like replacing poles with galvanized ones that would last longer.
The contractor IPR Incorporated says it made those fixes and is now awaiting final inspection. But The Department of Design and Construction said in a statement that the City has not accepted completion of the $93,000 project.
"I think at this particular stage after waiting this length of time I would think the city Department of Design and Construction would work with the contractor to have the contractor in some degree agree to indemnify the equipment during this interim period while he seeks to replace it," says Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin.
The City hopes to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
"I’m hoping it will be open by tomorrow. I don’t want to drive out there myself and remove that orange fencing," Martin says.
IPR incorporated owns the playground, and holds liability, until the city accepts it. They remind families the site is still under construction.
"I think we do feel somewhat like we’re trespassing," Lee says. "It’s disappointing because we want to be able to use the public playground."
IPR says it expects to hear from the city soon to sign off on the project, and get the playground officially open.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
