Leon Gorman Park could be in line for a makeover as Freeport has hired a landscape architect to illustrate visions for the park’s use, including residents’ recommendations.

The park, located on Bow Street adjacent to Bow Street Market, was a gift to the town from L.L. Bean, said Freeport town planner Donna Larson.

“They had built a skating pond there and we tried to make it work for quite a few years,” said Larson, “but we just couldn’t get it to hold water — a few good days of skating was not worth the expense we put into it.”

Approximately 25 residents attended a visioning presentation at the park on May 31 to share their ideas for how they would like to see the space reused.

The town has hired Travis Pryor of Wright-Pierce, a New England-based environmental engineering firm with offices in Topsham and Portland, to draw up conceptual designs for the park based on resident feedback.

“He has a lot of park planning experience,” said Larson. “I like to think that by the end of this fall we will have a vision for the park, and we can take it from there.”

Visioning is the first step, Larson said. Funding has not yet been allocated to revamping the park, and any plans to alter the park would have to be approved by the town officials.

Some ideas given at the presentation were simple and inexpensive enough that the town can begin working on them immediately, Larson said.

“We’re going to brush hog an area and put down some wood chips adjacent to the Bow Street parking lot,” said Larson, and Bow Street Market has agreed to put out some tables and chairs in that area.

The entrance to the park slopes down from the parking lot to a lower level where the skating pond was designed to be. Larson said that some older residents asked for a place to sit without having to walk downhill to the lower level.

“We can make a map of that park, that was another idea we had,” said Larson. “There were a lot of cigarette butts down there, so we’re going to talk about taking action on a no smoking resolution.”

Smoking is already prohibited in the park, Larson said, but the town will consider posting no smoking signs at the park.

The park is named for Leon Gorman, who served as the president of L.L. Bean from 1967-2001. It has eight acres of trails located just a few blocks away from Freeport’s Main Street. The park has a covered pavilion picnic area, fire pits and a short half mile trail loop. Dogs are permitted on lead.

rgargiulo@timesrecord.com