BIDDEFORD — One of city’s busiest parks, the 70-acre Rotary Park, situated between Main Street and the Saco River, may be undergoing some changes if city officials implement changes called for in a new master plan.

Last month, Amanda Bunker of the Wright-Pierce engineering firm in Topsham told the City Council the details of a $7,000 master plan that the firm designed for the city. Plans include two additional all-purpose sports fields, a riverwalk and expanded parking, along with picnic structures and equipment sheds for sports equipment.

Currently, said Bunker, some of the facilities located at the site include a teen center, a day camp and two fields used primarily for softball and football. A beach area is also at the site, and additional facilities include a boat ramp, basketball court and skate park.

The master plan calls for building two new sports fields to accommodate numerous sports such as football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey. These fields would be larger than the two existing, undersized fields at the park, said Bunker.

Parks and Recreation Director Carl Walsh said one of the reasons for commissioning the plan is that there is a shortage of sports fields in the city. One of the existing fields would be reclaimed for a riverfront buffer, under the proposal, said Bunker, and the other would be expanded.

The Rotary Park master plan also includes a dog park, which has already been approved by the City Council. Walsh said the dog park committee is waiting to hear whether a potential donor will contribute toward a fence, which will be the largest expense associated with the project, at an estimated cost of $12,000.

Long-term plans for Rotary Park include expanding the teen center to a community center, adding permanent restrooms and making utility improvements, Bunker said.

Walsh said the master plan was created with input from his staff and other community members. The cost to implement all the changes included in the master plan is $1.2 million, said Walsh, but it would not be implemented all at once.

He added that a significant portion of the cost could be cut by eliminating plans for field lighting.

Walsh said he will also look at other options for cost-savings, such as how labor could be provided at a lower cost. One option he mentioned was the possibility of labor provided by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of a training exercise.

In addition, he said, fill removed as part of other city projects might be obtained at no cost to use in field construction.

Walsh said the last plan for Rotary Park was created in the 1970s.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.