Maybe Police Chief George Freitas was only half-joking when he suggested those wishing to visit the new Kaua’i Police Department headquarters bring their own buckets. The new police headquarters, scheduled to open in September and also house the county prosecuting
Maybe Police Chief George Freitas was only half-joking when he suggested those wishing to visit the new Kaua’i Police Department headquarters bring their own buckets.
The new police headquarters, scheduled to open in September and also house the county prosecuting attorney staff and Civil Defense emergency operations center, is currently without water or sewer hookups.
Things were progressing smoothly on both the building construction and a planned extension of Ka’ana Street to link up with Kapule Highway and provide those needed water and sewer lines to the new building.
And then Amfac declared bankruptcy.
Amfac had committed to building the road, and a $1.9 million contract was signed with Goodfellow Brothers as the road extension’s general contractor.
Now, the fate of that contract is in the hands of bankruptcy attorneys and a bankruptcy court, which eventually will prioritize which items will get funded, according to an Amfac spokesman.
In the meantime, the police building is still expected to be completed by late September, but the Amfac bankruptcy problem led Freitas to the BYOB (bring your own buckets) quip when he recently addressed the Kapa’a Rotary Club .
Yet Doug Haigh, with the Building Division of the county Department of Public Works, doesn’t think the Amfac mess will delay occupancy of the new building.
Alternatives are being explored to bring water and sewer service to the new building, which already has electricity, said Haigh.
A vehicular access from Ho’olako Street now being used by Kaua’i Bus workers and construction crews working on the new building will suffice as far as pavement goes, Haigh noted.
“We need the sewer and the water. We don’t need the road,” he said. “We would like to have the road (Ka’ana Street) for the police station. We are looking at alternative ways to get the sewer and water there.
“At this point, we are not anticipating delaying the opening of the police station.”
There appears to be hope on the horizon for a resolution of the problem. Included in the state Department of Transportation budget recently approved by the state Legislature is $1 million for intersection improvements at Kapule Highway and a yet-to-be-extended Ka’ana Street.
Those improvements include a new traffic signal, acceleration and deceleration lanes, and other improvements.
That in itself, though, doesn’t get water and sewer service to the new building.
County officials met yesterday to look at alternative ways to bring water and sewer service to the new building, but no firm decisions were reached.
“We’re left with the improvements from the highway up to the police station, figuring out how to get that done,” said Haig.
Goodfellow had materials on site and was ready to build the 1,000-foot roadway from the police station to Kapule Highway, complete with water and sewer lines, when Amfac declared bankruptcy, he said.
The Goodfellow contract also includes a traffic signal, highway ingress and egress lanes, curbs and curb cuts, and other work.
Near the new police station will be a new courthouse and state Judiciary complex, which was expected to go out to bid before the end of April. That construction contract must be awarded by the end of June, Haigh concluded.
Currently, Ka’ana Street runs from Hardy Street near Wilcox Elementary School and the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, and through an under-construction residential subdivision.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
