Outdoor Field Permitting
In 2026 the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) launched a comprehensive effort to revitalize the way we permit and organize activities enjoyed within our outdoor play fields, one of the most popular public facilities in Hawai‘i.
DPR operates 221 ball diamonds and 129 play fields around O‘ahu. With the island’s ideal weather conditions creating an environment for year-round usage, managing the demand for these public resources is necessary to ensure equity and greater access for our diverse community of park users.
In the past, DPR Recreation Directors would schedule usage of their fields through a variety of methods, creating an inconsistent patchwork of operations across O‘ahu. Now, DPR aims to institute a standard field permitting system utilizing Field User Meetings.
The overall intent of instituting this system is to:
- Create fair and transparent ways of assigning field usage
- Better manage this limited public resource
- Develop consistent and more easily understood practices
- Increase communication and collaboration between field users and DPR
- More easily address scheduling conflicts or inequities
Table of Contents
Informational Zoom Meetings
To provide details and answer questions about the Field User Meeting system, DPR staff will be holding three informational Zoom meetings open to any interested person or organization. The meeting will begin with a detailed presentation of the system, a copy of which can be found by clicking here. All dates and times listed below are Hawai‘i Standard Time (HST)
Field User Meetings
The Field User Meeting process is organized into two permitting blocks: Winter – Spring (December 1 – May 31) and Summer – Fall (June 1 – November 30).
To begin the Field User Meeting process, interested parties are asked to submit their Park Use Application and Field Permit Form during a two-week period approximately two months prior to the beginning of the permitting block. Applications can be submitted via email, in-person, or mailed to the DPR Recreation Director responsible for permitting the particular facility. Mailed applications must be received, not postmarked, within the application period.
Click here for the Park Use Application
Click here for the Field Permit Form
At the end of the application period Field User Meetings are held to bring applicants together to to communicate park rules, field maintenance, park-specific conditions, and to determine if there are any initial scheduling conflicts. Requests for fields received after the application deadline will be considered after the field times have been distributed to those who submitted application by the deadline.
If conflicts arise, the applicants have a one-week Mediation Period following the Field User Meeting to resolve their conflict. If the conflict is not resolved, the Recreation Director will begin the Conflict Resolution process. Both of these processes are described in greater length below.
Winter - Spring
*APPPLICATION PERIOD: September 14 – October 9
*FIELD USER MEETINGS: October 19 – October 30
PERMITTING BLOCK: December 1 – May 31
*The application period and meeting schedule for this block will change after the 2026 season, due to input from permitted users. Mahalo for your understanding.
Summer - Fall
APPPLICATION PERIOD: March 17 – March 31
FIELD USER MEETINGS: April 1 – April 15
PERMITTING BLOCK: June 1 – November 30
Large tournaments can submit applications one year in advance. Large Tournaments are defined as those who have participants/teams travelling from off island where securing a date a year in advance is required to adequately plan the large event. These tournaments may be restricted to one weekend per month to give balance to other field usage.
Field User Meetings are scheduled utilizing the 26 complex or large park areas based on demand.
Click the image to the right to get a full list of Field User Meetings for the Winter 2026 – Spring 2027 permitting block, which are scheduled from October 19 – October 30, 2026.
Each page following the larger calendar describes which parks are included in which complex/park area.
All permittees are expected to attend these in-person meetings, which gives all field users a chance to interact face-to-face and resolve issues in an orderly manner. We hope that by having all field users in a meeting together they can build trust and a sense of comradery/community amongst each other, which will help resolve conflicts should they arise.
We recommend having two representative for your organization present at these meetings, to facilitate discussions and resolutions at this time. Please contact your park’s Recreation Director if you are unable to physically attend these meetings.
Mediation Period
Inevitably, there will be two or more organizations who initially apply for the use of the same DPR facility at the same time. When this scheduling conflict occurs, we first encourage the organizations to resolve their scheduling conflicts on their own. The organizations are given a one-week Mediation Period beginning from the time of the Field User Meeting. Should the organizations not be able to resolve their scheduling conflicts on their own, the Recreation Director will begin the Conflict Resolution process.
Conflict Resolution
There are two systems Recreation Directors can use to help resolve scheduling conflicts amongst organizations: Point System and Ticket System. While the point system is most common, the ticketing system is available and currently utilized by the Mililani, Crestview, and Pearl City complexes.
Point System
The following factors will be used to resolve scheduling conflicts under the Point System (descending order of ranking weight):
- Youth activities
- City activities
- Size of the organization respective to the facility
- Game or league play
- Existing permit from prior permitting block requiring continuity
- Limited access to own facilities
- Primary season
- Deductions for previous permit violations within past two years
The sum of the points for each organization will be used to determine the percentage of their request which is approved. For instance, Organization A scores six points, while Organization B scores four points. Organization A will be permitted 60% of their conflicted request, while Organization B will be permitted 40%.
Ticket System
This system is based on an organization’s confirmed roster and the number of other conflicting organizations. Recreation Directors will then use the rosters from all of the conflicting organizations to determine the amount of field usage timeslots they can choose (tickets), and in what order they are chosen. A spreadsheet showing these calculations will be created by the Recreation Director and shared with the conflicting organizations.
Larger rosters equate to more park users, and will be afforded first choices and more timeslots. Think of this like draft picks, where the larger the organization the more picks they will have with first chance for to select a particular permitting slot. Conflicting organizations take turns in a round-robin style of selecting one field timeslot at a time until all of the fields are spoken for and all of the organizations run out of tickets.
First Come, First Served
If any additional outdoor field availability exists after Field User Meeting permitting is complete, available field space and times can be requested on a first come, first served basis.
Recreation Directors may also choose this permitting policy for fields which do not experience significant demand, and as a result do not often have different organizations competing over field usage. However, the Field User Meeting model mentioned above is the current system utilized for permitting outdoor fields managed by DPR.
Ultimately, DPR aims to balance permitted use of fields with the ability for the public at large to openly access fields for pick-up and casual recreational opportunities.
Awarding Field Permits
Once these processes are complete, the Recreation Director managing the field will inform the applying organization of the dates and times awarded for their use. Recreation Director’s will aim to announce these permits approximately one-month before the beginning of the permitting period.
Permits will be issued up to three months at a time, unless otherwise specific (such as for Large Tournaments described above).
If you wish to renew a permit, place contact the Recreation Director. Mahalo for your understanding of this revitalized system, and for helping us to better manage the beautiful park facilities we all cherish.
Pilot Program
With the dozens of organizations, hundreds of park facilities, and thousands of park users impacted by this effort, DPR first launched this unified system on a sample size of parks and complexes in March 2026. The following complexes and parks were incorporated into the pilot program, with three Zoom meetings held so permittees could familiarize themselves with the system and ask questions of our dedicated Recreation Directors (prior to the broader launch in August 2026). Those 55 parks and 9 complexes included:
Koko Head Complex (District 1):
- Koko Head District Park
- Koko Head Neighborhood Park
- Kamilo Iki Community Park
- Kamilo Iki Neighborhood Park
- Haha‘ione Neighborhood Park
- Haha‘ione Valley Neighborhood Park
- Nehu Neighborhood Park
- ‘Āina Haina Community Park
- Kuli‘ou‘ou Neighborhood Park
- Kalama Valley Neighborhood Park
Mānoa Valley District Park
‘Aiea Complex (District 2):
- ‘Aiea District Park
- ‘Aiea Annex Field
- Ala Pu‘umalu Community Park
- Connie Chun Āliamanu Neighborhood Park
- Hoa Aloha Neighborhood Park
- Nāpuanani Neighborhood Park ‘
- Salt Lake District Park
Kalākaua Complex (District 2):
- ‘A‘ala International Park
- Beretania Community Park
- Kalākaua District Park
- Kauluwela Community Park
Wai‘anae Complex (District 3):
- Pu‘u O Hulu Neighborhood Park
- Kaupuni Neighborhood Park
- Kalaniana‘ole Beach Park
- Mā‘ili Community Park
- Pililā‘au Community Park
- Shinyei Nakamine and 100th Infantry Battalion Waiʻanae District Park
- Mākaha Community Park
Waipahū Complex (District 3):
- Bill Balfour Jr. Waipahū District Park
- Waipahū Uka Neighborhood Park
- Honowai Neighborhood Park
- Darrel T. Young Waikele Community Park
- Ho`ae`ae Community Park
- Kunia Neighborhood Park
Waimānalo Complex (District 4):
- Waimānalo Beach Park
- Waimānalo District Park
Kahalu‘u Complex (District 4)
- Kahalu‘u Community Park
- Kahalu‘u Regional Park
- Laenani Neighborhood Park
- Swanzy Beach Park
- Hau‘ula Community Park
- Kahuku District Park
Kailua Complex (District 4):
- Kailua District Park
- Kawainui Neighborhood Park
- Kalaheo Neighborhood Park
- ‘Aikahi Community Park
- Enchanted Lake Community Park
- Keolu Hills Neighborhood Park
- Maunawili Neighborhood Park
Wahiawā Complex (District 5):
- George F. Wright Wahiawā District Park
- Ka’ala Neighborhood Park
- Whitmore Neighborhood Park