KALAELOA — Uncertainty about the fate of a bowling alley, athletic fields and a daycare center have people from all corners of the West O'ahu community hopping mad at Navy officials.

The Navy gave itself until the end of the month to reach a lease agreement transferring 499 acres of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station to developer Ford Island Properties, a subsidiary of Texas-based Hunt Development Co.

The problem faced by West O'ahu residents is that the fate of the Kapolei Child Development Center and the Barbers Point Bowling Alley hang in the balance, as does use of Pointer and Pride fields. While the Navy may be gone from Kalaeloa, the facilities are widely used by the fast-growing 'Ewa and Kapolei communities.

An estimated 1,000 people, only about half of whom are military, use the bowling alley weekly while hundreds participate in organized football, baseball and softball leagues that use the fields.

Bowling alley employees have been told they will be terminated at the end of the month, while parents of children enrolled at the daycare center are being informed it will be shut down sometime between Oct. 1 and the end of the year.

Ford Island Development official Steve Colon said the company is ready to work with the community groups to ensure that the community services can continue without interruption, but said it's difficult to start such talks when the overarching issue of the transfer is still unresolved.

Among those most frustrated with the Navy is Tesha Malama, director of planning and development for the state Kalaeloa Community Development District, which encompasses all 3,695 acres of the former air station. Malama is with the state Hawai'i Community Development Authority, which oversees development over Kalaeloa.

"I don't know how you can just go ahead and close something, down," Malama said, adding that her agency has been asking for a transition plan since the Ford Island Properties deal was first reached in January. "We tried to be nice but it's like a slap in the face to the community when we've been trying to avoid all this."

Malama added: "We have asked the Navy numerous times and, to date, we have gotten nothing, and now people are facing the possibility of losing their jobs and we're looking at losing resources in the district."

The Navy, in a statement yesterday, said "We ask the community's patience as we finalize the terms of the lease to convey the 499 acres of land parcels at Kalaeloa." It gave no timetable for completing the deal.

FEW ALTERNATIVES

About 300 West O'ahu youths ages 5 to 13 are members of the 10-team Kapolei Warriors Football Association, who use Pointer Field for games and practices.

League leaders are worried about what will happen if they are told they cannot play.

Derek Higa, association vice president, said the organization was first told it would be allowed to stay for a year. Now they are hearing they may only have until the end of the month.

"This is the only football field with goal posts in Kapolei," he said. Another youth football organization uses the Kapolei Recreation Center field, he said. "If we lose this, we're going to have to compete for other fields, which are hard to find in the Kapolei region."

Rocky Paiva, also a parent of a boy playing Kapolei Warriors football, said he worries what will happen if the leagues go away. "Without this venue, what are the kids going to do with themselves with the free time that they have?"

Dirk Fujii, president of the Makakilo-Kapolei Youth Baseball League, said about 200 youths ages 5 to 14 are part of his league that runs out of the Pride and Pointer fields from January through June. Another league, MKH LIttle League, also has about 200 players.

The Navy has a no-cost agreement with the city that allows for public use of the fields as long as the city maintains them. What was once a yearly lease is now month-to-month, city Parks Director Lester Chang said.

The city would like to continue its arrangement with the new owner, Chang said.

"What I don't know for sure is who I'm going to have these discussions with, come Oct. 1," he said.

The fields are critically needed, Chang said.

"If they weren't there, we wouldn't be able to accommodate the leagues in the other existing parks that we have without inconveniencing others."

In a statement, Ford Island Development's Colon said the company "will work with the (city) to enter into a license agreement to allow continued use of the existing ball fields for everyone to enjoy for at least the near future."

BOWLING TO SHUT DOWN

About 70 to 80 youth bowlers ages 4 to 21 participate in the Barbers Point Youth Bowling Club, which uses the 16-lane Barbers Point Bowling Alley, said coordinator Linda Painter.

There are also several adult and senior leagues that use the facility regularly, as do bowlers from Kapolei, Campbell, Nanakuli and Wai'anae high schools. Painter estimates that all told, that's about 1,000 people a week.

Painter and a business partner want to take over operations at the bowling center.

"This was supposed to happen prior to Sept. 30," she said. "We've been waiting for the Navy to lock it on Sept. 30 and for me to unlock it on Oct. 1.

But, like the city, she is having a hard time getting to the negotiating table with Ford Island Development.

Nine full- and part-time employees were told they'd be out of a job after Sept. 30, Painter said. The Navy said there are 13 employees affected by the closure and that they are being helped to find other employment.

There are no other bowling facilities in West O'ahu and leagues are scrambling trying to find at least temporary space at Pearl City and 'Aiea bowls, as well as the on-base facility at Schofield Barracks.

But Pointer said those people are also having a hard time finding space, noting that the island lost two of its remaining alleys in Wai'alae and Kalihi in the last year.

Pointer said she's worried what will happen to the bowling alley, and the leagues, if the facility is shut down even for a little while. It makes sense for the Navy to help the community because "it's the community that has supported these facilities," she said. The clientele is about evenly split between military and civilian, she said.

The Navy's Oct. 1 deadline to shut down the bowling alley appears to be firm, meaning it will probably shut down at least temporarily unless Ford Island Properties and the Navy can close its deal by Sept. 30.

CHILDCARE CENTER

Ford Island Properties said in a statement Friday that the Navy's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation department will continue to operate the Child Development Center "for at least the next six months."

The Navy, in a separate statement, however, said no official closing date has been determined and that "we will provide patrons with as much advance notice as possible."

The childcare center has an enrollment of 45 military dependent children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old, and employs 28. The Navy said all 28 employees will be reassigned to one of the five other centers on the island and it intends to help families of the children enrolled individually come up with alternative solutions.

Ford Island Development's Colon said the company is looking at having a private operator take over the facility.

Peter Salvatore, an Army chief warrant officer who lives in Makakilo and is based at Hickam Air Force Base, has one child at the center. He said his family was told last week the center would close at the end of the year, maybe sooner, leaving his family scrambling to find alternative arrangements

Salvatore, who is being deployed to Qatar, said it doesn't make business sense to shut down the center since there is a dire need for childcare in the area.

Additionally, a number of military families still live in the West O'ahu region, he said.

Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, said she's been fielding a number of calls from unhappy area residents.

"I'm angry that the Navy continues to engage in transactions and make changes and closures in Kalaeloa without letting us in the community know," she said. "It's been a continuing one-way policy where the Navy gets what it wants, when it wants and how it wants."