KAILUA — Bowlers are worried that when the lease for Pali Lanes expires in three years, the 45-year-old bowling center will close.

The Kailua town property's land manager, Kane'ohe Ranch Co., last year released a plan outlining proposed changes to the property that feature a plaza in what is now the bowling alley's parking lot.

The prospect of downsizing the 24-lane operation or scrapping it altogether prompted an 80-year-old Kailua resident and avid bowler to collect about 4,000 signatures on a petition asking that Pali Lanes be kept open.

"All I'm asking is just to save the bowling alley," said Ed Medeiros, the second vice president of the O'ahu Bowling Association.

In addition to presenting the petition to the property owner, the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, Medeiros has gone before the Kailua Neighborhood Board, visited the property's land manager, Kane'ohe Ranch Co. Ltd., and is speaking to people individually.

O'ahu has 14 bowling centers, nine of which are military-owned. Of the remaining five, the future of Pali Lanes, Waialae Bowl and Mak Bowl appear uncertain.

Several of the military bases, meanwhile, are opening their doors to non-military bowlers, but require military sponsors or special passes.

Gabriela Lamer, an accountant at Mak Bowl, said the military's open-door policy is attracting some leagues because the military centers typically charge less and don't have to abide by civilian drinking and smoking laws.

"They're subsidized by the federal government and we're not," she said. "They do compete with us. It makes it challenging when it's not necessarily a fair playing field."

Deborah Bruns, manager for K-Bay Lanes at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, said the base doesn't advertise its open-door policy and sees it as a gesture of good will to the community. Civilian bowlers at K-Bay Lanes must be sponsored by military personnel or may undergo a screening process to obtain a yearly pass.

"Our guys are deployed so we have the available lanes," Bruns said. "The military — at least the Marine Corps — always likes being helpful and extending open arms to the community."

Frank Yamamoto, manager of Waialae Bowl, said his operation could close in a year and a half.

"People have the mistaken notion that if one establishment closes, the other ones will prosper," said Yamamoto, who has been involved in bowling for more than 40 years.

"We have a lot of leagues, and if one establishment closes, there's no way the other bowling alleys will be able to accommodate all the leagues. The leagues will have to give up bowling."

At one time, Hawai'i had more bowlers per capita than any other state, Yamamoto said. In the 1960s, the Hawaii Bowling Proprietors Association boasted 28 members. Now the association is defunct and only five civilian bowling alleys remain on O'ahu, he said.

Yamamoto blames high operating costs and waning interest for the demise of bowling centers. He added that manufacturers of bowling equipment have done little to generate enthusiasm for the sport in Hawai'i.

"When they make no effort to push the product, then the whole recreation or the activity can fail," Yamamoto said.

The bowling centers that are thriving, Yamamoto said, have transformed traditional alley operations into full-scale entertainment centers that may feature game rooms, restaurants, daycare facilities, Internet access and even rock-climbing walls to attract new crowds to the businesses.

The owners of Pali Lanes maintain they were told that their lease, which ends in December 2009, would not be renewed. But land manager Kane'ohe Ranch Co. Ltd. countered that it has not been approached on the matter recently.

Three years ago, Kane'ohe Ranch began an outreach process to involve the community in the future planning of the Kailua town property it manages. A 2005 draft plan called for construction of a plaza surrounded by retail shops in the area now occupied by the bowling alley parking lot, said Kimo Steinwascher of Kane'ohe Ranch.

"It's kind of assumed the bowling alley would not stay or be on a smaller scale," Steinwascher said.

Pali Lanes is owned by Kailua residents Gretchen Neal and Jeanne Hailer, and Arkansas resident Larry Luxon.

Luxon said the business pays $11,700 a month for rent and has about $1.5 million in bowling equipment. The building needs repairs, but fixing it with an uncertain lease agreement would not be fiscally wise, he said. And a new lease would probably mean higher lease rent, which would have to be covered by higher bowling prices, Luxon said.

The bowling center's manager, Jean Tamala, said the facility is open every day to all types of bowlers — leagues, seniors, schools and Special Olympics events.

"We have people come from Nanakuli and 'Ewa Beach to bowl in our leagues," Tamala said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.