Now that Scarborough voters decisively rejected a $975,000 bond to complete a park off Black Point Road, the town has to figure out what to do with the 11-acre site and the $350,000 that has already been allotted for the project.

About $50,000 has already been spent, according to Town Manager Ron Owens, on leveling some of the land and designing the park, which voters turned down, 2,997-1,354.

Owens said he thinks the town will end up leveling a playing field for pick-up games and possibly putting in a parking area. He said he didn’t know how much that would cost, but there might be some added expenses if drainage were needed.

Brian Van Dam, chairman of the Scarborough Community Services and Recreation Advisory Board, said the committee didn’t discuss the possibility of the park being rejected before the town vote Nov. 6, but, he said, members are in the process of scheduling a meeting to do just that.

The park went to referendum two years after $350,000 had been set aside because the town had originally planned to build the park in phases of less than $400,000 – the maximum amount of money the town can spend on a project without the approval of voters. But work on the project stopped after residents criticized the town for trying to complete it without a referendum. In addition, residents around Black Point Road complained that the original plan for the park – which included a public address system, several athletic fields and extensive lighting – was too intense for the neighborhood. They argued for a more community-oriented plan.

Even after the park was redesigned to appeal to residents of all ages, rather than just children, with the addition of a gazebo and walking trails, some still maintained it wasn’t the right spot.

Emily Ward of Cammock Road said at a public hearing last month that the site off Black Point Road wasn’t big enough for athletic fields, and the plan should instead incorporate trails through the woods.

Winifred Malia of Fogg Road argued that its proximity to two churches made it an inappropriate place for cheering crowds.

Ward’s husband, Matthew, said Tuesday that he and his wife were never opposed to a park, but only to the plan presented.

“I don’t see how you could not have a park there,” Matthew Ward said, but, he added, “it ought to be a park, not an athletic field.”

Ward said there could still be open spaces where children could play pick-up baseball games or Frisbee, but that doesn’t mean there needs to be an actual field.

If it stays the way it is, that’s fine with Ward, too. However, Clare Hannan, who lives across the street from the site, thinks the gravel and grass there now is unsightly.

“It’s a mess,” she said. “It detracts from everything around it.”

Hannan thinks there is a definite need for places in town where kids can play pick-up games, and, even though her daughter is getting older and may not use it, she thinks that’s what the area should be dedicated to.

Melissa Labonte, who lives in back of the park, agrees. She said her two children frequently walk over to the ballfield on Highland Avenue and would certainly get a lot of use out of one in their back yard.

Labonte said she supported the park plan all along and wasn’t concerned about traffic increasing or being distrupted by constant use of the park.

“I think it’s too bad it didn’t go through,” she said.

Though Hannan supported the park, she said her husband began to think the plan was unneccessarily expensive, and she believes that was why the bond was not approved.

Van Dam said he was “a little disappointed” that the park bond didn’t pass. He thought the rain on Election Day may have played a role in the outcome.

“I think when you get weather like we got, people opposed to something come out,” said Van Dam, but he added, regardless of the reason, “the town said they didn’t want a park, and we have to respect that.”

Both Owens and Van Dam said the need for more athletic fields in town is undeniable, and, in some capacity, the issue is bound to arise again.

“Maybe down the road, it would be more intensive,” Owens said, considering the town’s needs will only increase.

After park rejection, town asks: Now what?