Scarborough residents expressed concern Sunday about the way the town budgeted for a new park off Black Point Road in a meeting at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church.

Some residents at the meeting were critical of the way the town planned to build the park in phases that cost less than $400,000 – the most the town can spend without going to a public vote.

The town defended the practice of breaking up a project into phases as the way it has always built parks, but vowed to improve the planning process to keep the public more informed and involved.

“Today is both an opportunity to get your valuable input on the design of the park and an experiment on how to better involve the public in the future,” said Town Manager Ron Owens at the start of Sunday’s meeting.

At the meeting, residents representing immediate abutters, the neighborhood and other concerned residents met with town officials to work out recommendations for the town council to consider when discussing the park. Any design for the park had been thrown out, said Owens, and the new plans would begin with residents’ input in mind.

“When we voted to up the cap from $200,000 to $400,000, I was under the impression that was for the whole project, not a piece,” said Tony Lacertosa, a resident near the park.

Larissa Pratt, who also lives near the park, echoed Lacertosa. “As a taxpayer, when I hear that there’s a $400,000 cap on a park, I assume that the entire project will cost under $400,000.”

According to Owens, this is the usual way parks are built in Scarborough. “We rarely do a park all at once,” said Owens. “We generally try to do it over a number of years. It’s a question of timing and fitting it into the budget.” Unlike a school, he added, it’s possible to build a park in sections, which allows the impact to spread out.

Bruce Gullifer, director of Community Services, told residents about the decision behind the timing of the park. The reason for beginning the park now was in an effort to save money, said Gullifer. By taking the soil excavated during the construction of the turf field and adding it to the park site, he said, the town would ultimately spend less.

“It kind of was a rush rush, get it through, build a road and get it done,” said Gullifer.

According to Owens, the sudden start to the park is one of the reasons for Sunday’s meeting. After the June planning board meeting when the board criticized the town for failing to include the board before construction began, said Owens, he realized they needed a community meeting. At that meeting residents were also under the impression they would have a chance to speak, and were frustrated when they found out it was not a public hearing.

The town then hired a consulting group, the Delphi Company, for $3,500 to hold focus groups and moderate Sunday’s community meeting.

“This all grew out of the meeting with the planning board when for the first time we involved them,” said Owens. “Unfortunately, we didn’t give them enough information on their role. Originally we wanted their advice, then we realized they weren’t on the same page we were trying to put them on.”

In the future, said Owens, the town plans to hold similar meetings on town projects to avoid confusion, though they wouldn’t necessarily need to hire mediators. “We assume that people know what’s going on, but we’re learning that people aren’t always aware,” added Owens. “The public hearing process isn’t really a good way to get public input. You either get people who are passionately for or passionately against something, and we want to hear all views.”

The ultimate point of the meeting, said Owens, was to create recommendations from the residents to pass on to the town council.

Those recommendations included downsizing the park to one playing field, not two; making sure the area can handle the increased traffic; building sidewalks and other safe ways to walk to the park; not putting up lights, and reserving space for picnic tables, walking trails, and other spaces that will be accessible to everyone from children to seniors and not paying for the construction by renting the field to other towns.

Gullifer said he is no longer looking into private funding for the park. In order to entice other towns to invest in the field, Scarborough would have to give them field time in return. For there to be enough time for everyone lights would need to be added to allow for later games. Lights, said residents, are definitely not something they want.

“If we’re not going to look into private funding, then we’ll find a new way to fund the project,” said Gullifer.

As for the hopes of some residents that there only be one field instead of two, according to Gullifer, there is incredible demand for field space in Scarborough, and the more fields the better. There are a total of 131 teams vying for space on 21 fields, said Gullifer.

“It’s just not doable anymore,” he added. “We’re feeling more and more pressure, and there are more and more situations when Community Services can’t provide a field when a team requests one.”

Though residents were concerned with what the park will eventually include, they also told the town that they hope in the future it will continue to ask for community and planning board input, though further in advance. According to Owens, that is something he’s looking for as well.

“This has been great,” said Owens at the end of the meeting. “We don’t always have to agree, but we’ve heard some good information today. We want to try to use this to build a project that will bring a little input from everyone so we can get ahead of the curve.”

During smaller table discussions at the Black Point Community Park meeting, Town Manager Ron Owens, left, sat down to talk with residents. From left are residents Tony Lacertosa, Larissa Pratt and Tim Borelli. Residents representing those abutting the park, the surrounding neighborhood and Scarborough in general listened to presentations and asked questions about the park along with town councilors and other town officials. Standing from left are Brian VanDam, Ron Owens and facilitator John Shorb.