MILILANI MAUKA — Residents have been looking at a completed $4.5 million recreation facility on Lehiwa Drive for over a year but still cannot use it.

The opening of Mililani Recreation Center No. 7 has been delayed because of unresolved issues between developer Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii and the Mililani Town Association concerning condensation and mold problems, primarily in the complex's youth center.

Residents will not be able to use Mililani's seventh and final recreation center until MTA accepts the project from Castle & Cooke, and that won't happen unless the association is satisfied with the project, said MTA General Manager Calvin Maeda.

"Before we accept it, we want to make sure it's safe and healthy, because we don't want the liability," Maeda said.

Castle & Cooke Homes agreed to allow MTA to bring in its own expert, Architectural Diagnostics, to do condensation and mold testing in August, and MTA expects to have the findings in three or four weeks, Maeda said.

Maeda plans to present Architectural Diagnostics' findings to Castle & Cooke, which will then have to meet with its contractor to determine if further corrections need to be made.

Both Maeda and Alan K. Arakawa, Castle & Cooke Homes executive vice president of residential operations, declined to give a time frame for Recreation Center No. 7's opening.

"We'd like to turn it over," Arakawa said. "We would like to see the (MTA) report, work out any differences and get it open as soon as possible. There's no major dispute between Castle & Cooke Homes and MTA.

"I'm hopeful that we can get something done quickly, but at this point, it's not in our hands," Arakawa added.

In June, Castle & Cooke's Tony Gaston told the Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board the three issues delaying the opening of the recreation center were roof leaks/condensation, a problem with floor tiles and mold.

According to the board's minutes, Gaston said air testing was done and the finding was that Hawai'i would always be affected because of humidity but more so in Mililani.

Maeda said MTA wants to find out from Architectural Diagnostics if moisture in the youth center building is related to condensation from roof leaks and if it is contributing to the mold problem. "Right now, we don't know if they're related," Maeda said.

The tile problem at the entry area involves the adhesive. "We have to determine a solution; it's curling up at the edges," Maeda said. "With all these things, we just don't want maintenance problems once we take over."

Mililani homeowners pay dues to MTA, which manages all the recreation centers in the community.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.