Most city parks on Oahu are off-limits from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., but some say those hours lead to problems.

They want the parks closed earlier or opened later, saying it would cut down on the number of noise complaints and illegal activity.

In some cases, the community asked and the city agreed to change park hours. One example is at Lanakila District Park in the Liliha area.

Changes to park hours started this month, and the neighborhood board chair tells us so far, they haven’t received any complaints.

The new signs are apparent as soon as you walk to the basketball court: “No ball playing on courts from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.”

The basketball court used to open at 5 a.m. like the rest of the park, but not anymore.

“We had a complaint from the neighbors that people are using the basketball court at 5 in the morning, which created a little havoc,” said Liliha Neighborhood Board chair Wesley Fong.

Fong tells us the neighborhood board, councilman Joey Manahan, and the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation came up with a solution to open the basketball court three hours later to give neighbors a little more shuteye.

Since the basketball court was the only source of the complaint, the operating hours for the rest of the park remain the same.

“If you come at 5 in the morning and you want a picnic, or you want to have breakfast at the park, that’s fine, but don’t take your basketball. Stop bouncing it at 5 a.m. and wake up all the neighbors,” said Fong.

There’s another park in Kalihi where neighbors have raised concerns. Just two miles away at Fern Community Park, complaints of drinking, littering, and property damage after dark have been brought up to officials.

We learned there have been discussions about possibly closing the bathrooms at night or starting a citizens patrol.

At a neighborhood board meeting this month, one resident even suggested closing the park earlier than 10 p.m.

“Reducing the hours should be the last thing that we should try to do. If we have to go that route, then so be it,” said Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board member Ken Farm.

“If we can find creative ways of taking that park and having the community wanting to use it, chances are people who are doing nefarious activities, they don’t want to be there,” said Farm.

The parks department tells us any changes made at Fern Community Park would need to have the neighborhood board’s approval first.