PEARL CITY, Hawaii (KHON2) — Folks who feel like taking a dip this summer will not be doing so at the Pearl City District Park since the community pool was closed in 2018.
A resident reached out to KHON2 using the Report It feature to find out what is taking so long.
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The pool at Pearl City District Park is not in the best shape and a 2018 capital improvement project — scheduled to take about one year — has stretched into a four-year headache for the community.
“And like they said, it would take about a year to do all the repairs or whatever, upgrading they need to do,” said Pearl City resident Ed Nishimoto, “but so far, like what? Been four years or so?”
Nishimoto and his fellow kupuna used to use the pool for group exercise and activities.
“The two ends of the pool are shallow and so when we had big classes, we have two sides, do the exercise and it was very convenient and the parking is great here,” said Pearl City resident Iris Teramoto.
The Department of Parks and Recreation told KHON2 that improvements for Waipahu and Pearl City’s pools started with a short timeline.
“And while they were doing that, they unearthed some other issues,” said DPR spokesman Nate Serota. “Really we’re saying closed until further notice, but really it’s probably going to be sometime next year that Pearl City and hopefully Waipahu get closer towards reopening to the public.”
As far as the mucky water in Pearl City, Serota said chemically treating the pool is not a high priority since folks are not allowed to swim there.
While the green water is certainly an eyesore for the Pearl City community, the DPR said another island-wide issue is staffing part-time lifeguard positions. Click here for information on how to apply.
“What happens is we’ll set a schedule but then, you know, especially with the rise in COVID cases, people will call out sick,” Serota said. “So, that’s more of an availability thing that we’re looking for to make sure that not only can we bolster the schedule by making the pools more open to the public, but also that we can fill in those positions if someone does call out sick.”
Pearl City residents told KHON2 that they just want their pool back.
“And Pearl City is a very big community and we have lots of seniors, you know, and the pool was a godsend to everybody,” Pearl City resident Wanda Tamashiro said.
