Catching a wave in downtown Westbrook is getting closer to becoming a reality.

The city has secured a grant to help pay for the design of a play wave for watercraft to surf in the Presumpscot River – part of a grander plan for an urban whitewater park meant to draw people into the city’s downtown and spur economic growth.

The City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on hiring Recreation Engineering & Planning of Boulder, Colorado, to design the river feature for all kinds of watercraft to ride, while spectators could watch from a pedestrian bridge above, planned as part of a Maine Department of Transportation project.

The cost of hiring the firm, which specializes in dam modification and whitewater parks, would be covered mostly by a $39,200 Community Development Block Grant, which the council is also voting on accepting Monday.

The Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp. has agreed to cover the remaining $18,100 cost.

Along with the play wave, the city hopes to create another whitewater feature, so-called holes above Saccarappa Falls, enhancing the experience of kayaking down the river that runs through the city.

The projects would coincide with the requirement that Sappi Fine Paper create a fish passage at its dam at the falls by May 2017.

That would also improve the quality of fishing in the river, another recreational attraction.

Assistant City Administrator Bill Baker said he expects the whitewater features, which he said would cost less than $1 million, to receive grant funding. He said the cost could also be reduced by working in cooperation with Sappi while it’s building the fish passageway.

Recent negotiations with Sappi over its fish passage plans marked a major breakthrough for the city and its plans for whitewater recreation in the river.

For years, the paper company fought against state and federal requirements to build fish passages at its dams on the Presumpscot River.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife ruled in 2009 that Sappi would have to build a fishway at Cumberland Mills, its dam farthest down the river, used to draw water for cooling.

The creation of a fish ladder at that dam triggered federal requirements that Sappi build fish passages at its hydroelectic dams upstream to eventually allow fish to repopulate the entire river.

Sappi had been required to create a fish passage at Saccarappa Falls by May 2015, but by working with the city and agreeing to create a more natural passageway by removing both dams at the falls, the deadline was pushed back two years.

Baker has said studies of the city’s downtown from the past 20 years have called for making use of the river to draw people downtown.

About 10 years ago, a riverwalk along the Presumpscot created a scenic pathway just beyond the bustle of Main Street. In the spring of last year, the city installed ramps and docks on the banks of the river, so people could more easily access it for recreation.

Although the city found out Friday that it’s losing one of its largest downtown employers, Disability RMS, efforts to create a more desirable city center to attract more businesses are already underway.

“We are optimistic that eco-tourism will be one more reason to anticipate a bright future for the river and downtown Westbrook,” Baker said.