KENNEBUNK — Plans for a pavilion that will likely be built this year on an empty lot on Main Street in Kennebunk drew support from a member of the Winter Fest Committee this week, as town officials eyed the construction schedule and fundraising milestones that will make the structure a reality.

Brenda Robinson, who helped organize the Winter Fest event that took place earlier this month, spoke of the event’s success to selectmen on Tuesday, and said the pavilion ”“ an open-air structure that would facilitate ice skating in the winter and a variety of community events the rest of the year ”“ would make next year’s Winter Fest even better.

“It was fun, and it was mobbed,” said Robinson. “People were here skating with their children before 4 o’clock. People brought their dinners and sat at picnic tables. It was wonderful to see that kind of community.”

Originally, the plan was to have the pavilion built and ready for use by Old Home Week in June, but delays have pushed that back. Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said the building permit application has been submitted to the Site Plan Review Board, and construction is slated to start in April and culminate in late July.

While the overall cost of the project has been estimated at $729,000, Tibbetts has maintained that the structure can be built without raising taxes or the mil rate; as of this week, over $451,000 in funds have been committed and raised by local businesses and other interested parties, while $113,000 have been secured in vendor materials and in-kind labor. Ice compressors have already been purchased for the skating rink itself, which will be constructed and maintained by a $1.5 million endowment established last fall by the Geraldine Waterhouse family.

“We’re still working with our vendors and the labor in-kind,” said Tibbetts, “(and) I’m pretty positive we can meet those fundraising goals.”

A brownfields grant for $60,000 will help with environmental cleanup of the site; that portion of the project will have to be completed by May 31 in order for the town to qualify for those funds.

“It looks very positive, and (we’re) moving in the right direction,” said Tibbetts.

Not all members of the community have been thrilled with the proposed pavilion; residents like Ed Karytko have questioned the wisdom of such a project, particularly in light of voters’ recent rejection of a $75 million renovation project for three schools in Regional School Unit 21.

But officials have countered that the project basically amounts to a freebie, and Tibbetts has estimated that projected advertising revenue from the site could range from about $7-8,000 per year, with the open-air building itself requiring very little maintenance.

Robinson recalled that, during Winter Fest, members of the Kennebunk High School hockey team volunteered their time to teach young children how to skate. An attractive ice rink and pavilion would help facilitate more moments like that, she said.

“That’s the kind of thing we want to see in the community,” said Robinson. “Building the pavilion gives us a presence … and gives us a sense of centrality in Kennebunk.”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or jlagasse@journaltribune.com.