Old Orchard Beach committee proposes upgrades to town park

The Veterans Memorial Park Committee presented its vision for the public property at a recent Old Orchard Beach Town Council meeting.

Veteran’s Memorial Park is a seven-acre parcel on First Street on the outskirts of downtown Old Orchard Beach. The park abuts the Libby Memorial Library, and is across the street from the Old Orchard Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Amtrak Downeaster platform. Once used as a parking lot, the park now boasts playgrounds, tennis, basketball and pétanque courts; a fenced-in dog park, attractive plantings, a gazebo and benches, in addition to war memorials honoring veterans.

The Veterans Memorial Park Committee, a subcommittee of the town’s Conservation Commission, has worked with consulting firm Woodard and Curran to come up with proposed upgrades for the park.

Park committee member Larry Mead presented the suggested plan for the park at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting.

The park currently has a monument that stands alone on top of a hill.

To get the monument more integrated into the park, the committee has proposed several changes, including moving flag poles from the center of the park to the monument area, and utilizing lighting so that “at nighttime this would really stand out,” said Mead.

“It really will be a signature piece for (visitors) coming into the park,” he said.

The suggested plan also would make changes to the walkway to the monument, which is currently a paved strip up a hill. The proposal would create an open area with sitting walls – low walls that double as seating. A stairwell would lead from this open area to the monument, and there would also be a winding accessible path to the top of the hill, under the plan.

The proposal would also make upgrades to the entranceways to the park and would create “a grand entrance” at the corner of First and Staples streets, said Mead. The stone dust walkway at this entrance is often gutted out due to erosion and there is no sign welcoming visitors, he said.

Mead said the committee would like to see a hardscape entry plaza with sitting walls, and an archway with a sign greeting people coming into the park.

“You’re going to know that you’re entering a very important space when you come here, and that’s just not the case now,” he said. “Let’s give it some identity, so people know what this is all about.”

A proposed change outside the park would create a sidewalk traveling down Staples Street from Saco Avenue to this entranceway.

Other changes in the suggested plan include replacing the old parking lot lights with pedestrian-level lights, irrigation upgrades, and electrical upgrades to accommodate events without generators.

The committee over time has accumulated a budget of about $700,000. A small amount of that has been used for preliminary engineering costs, said Mead.

The estimated cost of the park refurbishment would be $782,000, including $102,000 contingency. A project that would create a sidewalk from Saco Avenue down Staples Street to the park would cost an estimated nearly $167,000, including almost $22,000 contingency.

Tuesday’s meeting was to introduce the proposal to the Town Council. No vote on the plan was made.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at [email protected].