177 Days: Bumpy City Parking Lot Still Waiting For Its Overdue Makeover
The asphalt surface of the parking lot at Kapālama Hale in Honolulu caps soil contaminated by decades of use as an automotive workshop.
Users of the city-owned parking lot at the Kapālama Driver License Center will have to wait for repaving maintenance on the site, after the city of Honolulu decided to use its own road crews for the job instead of an outside contractor who might have completed work sooner.
The decision represents savings for ratepayers, but the funds still need to be identified, and the city has yet to conduct a procurement and bidding process to acquire the road materials and set a start date, Honolulu spokesman Scott Humber said in an email Tuesday.
Rewind to July 14, when the site at 925 Dillingham Blvd. was featured in a Fix It! story after several readers emailed Civil Beat about the long-cratered road surface and faded arrows creating traffic flow confusion at the busy facility.
A site visit that month confirmed conditions at the lot, which has 181 parking spots, about half reserved for city staff. Stretches of the roadbed were deeply potholed and cracked. At the time, the city estimated completion as soon as August — as in last August.
Legacy Of Former Dole Workshop
Reasons for keeping the surface of the parking lot on Alakawa Street in good shape extend beyond aesthetics and safety: The asphalt literally keeps a lid on three acres of contaminated soil in a state-designated “brownfield” site.
Brownfield is a term to describe any former industrial and commercial sites that might contain legacy chemicals or other environmental hazards. The presence of those substances can complicate any work that might disturb hazardous materials.
At least 800 confirmed brownfield sites are listed in the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s register of brownfield sites; many hundreds more likely haven’t yet been identified.
For much of the 20th century, the Kapālama Hale site was used as the automotive maintenance facility for the Dole Pineapple Cannery, which included an underground storage tank and an oil and grease pit.
The building that now houses the driver license center and the satellite city hall was built in 1985 after Dole closed its operations there. It previously housed the Sprint Wireless headquarters before city employees moved in about a decade ago.
The soil contamination on the site is considered a low-level risk according to the health department register. An environmental contractor who inspected the site for the city in 2024 — a year before Civil Beat’s visit — found that despite the cracking and deterioration, no soil was exposed except for around the roots of trees, which the consultant said might be considered for removal.
Excavation for two new electric vehicle charging stations was also underway at the time.
The parking lot is operated by contractor Diamond Parking under an agreement with the City and County of Honolulu, and the Department of Facility Maintenance is responsible for maintaining the site.
When Civil Beat checked in with the city on the condition of the lot in July last year, spokesman Ian Scheuring said that the facility maintenance team agreed some work was due and would meet to assess the site and schedule “mill and fill repaving” maintenance by a local contractor, possibly as soon as August.
But the work was never scheduled, spokesman Humber said Tuesday, and the city has decided to move the work “in-house” using its own road crews.
“By doing the work internally, the City can realize an estimated savings of approximately 20 to 25% compared to hiring an outside contractor,” Humber said.
Humber said the primary challenges are pulling together funding and coordinating the work schedule. The latter could involve closing sections of the parking lot, he said, to allow crews to complete the work while minimizing disruption to the public.
So, prudent financial management, but no firm timeline yet for this Fix It! candidate.
Who Is Responsible?
Gene Albano, director of Honolulu Department of Facility Maintenance, 808-768-3343.
Residents can submit reports online at honoluluhi.citysourced.com; by email at dfmroads@honolulu.gov; by phone at 808-768-4381; or through the free Honolulu 311 app.
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