The former outdoor skating rink site next to Rotary Field would be the site of a new community recreation park that would feature a t-ball/wiffle ball field, bocce courts, hockey box and a new pavilion/warming hut/restrooms building (Provided photo — North Woods Engineering)

SARANAC LAKE — A draft plan has been released for the Harrietstown Rotary Recreation Park proposal.

The plan aims to transform what has been an outdoor skating area between Rotary Field and the Saranac Lake Civic Center into a multi-use park that would include a combined T-ball and wiffle ball field, two dedicated bocce courts, a refrigerated hockey box and a pavilion area with a warming hut and restrooms.

It was originally proposed last November at a Harrietstown town board meeting by Saranac Lake Youth Baseball and Softball Association President Chris Knight. He said the idea was driven by a combination of supply and demand.

On one hand, the outdoor skating area wasn’t getting as much use as it had been historically. There are several reasons for this, including unreliable winters, challenges in finding volunteers to flood and maintain the rink and ample indoor public skating since the civic center’s renovations.

On the other hand, he said youth baseball and softball are expanding, and they need more field space to accommodate all of its players and games. SLYBSA currently maintains two fields: Rotary Field next to the civic center and Elks Field off of John Munn Road.

The outdoor skating area is adjacent to Rotary Field, and Knight said it’s a perfect opportunity to expand their current infrastructure.

“We need some more field space and there’s not a ton of places in the community where you can do that,” he said. “This site is right next to one where our kids are already playing.”

At the same time, Knight said Saranac Lake has a vibrant outdoor skating history, and he wants to see that maintained through this park proposal. The proposed hockey box would be similar to the one next to the Olympic Speed Skating Oval in Lake Placid, and would complement the current indoor ice at the civic center.

“Because we maintain the fields and we’re at the fields all the time, we’ve always felt like, ‘OK, could there be another use for the site that would maintain it to allow for outdoor skating to remain,'” he said. “There’s a really long, great history of outdoor skating in the Saranac Lake community, and we want to try to keep that going somehow.”

The park project draft received input from the town of Harrietstown — whose board has approved the various components in the draft plan — the SLYBSA, Rotary Club of Saranac Lake, Kiwanis Club of Saranac Lake and Special Olympics New York. Knight said the bocce courts will be accessible. It would be an upgrade from the current makeshift setup used by the Kiwanis Club’s Special Olympics bocce team on the Rotary Field infield.

“It’s really a plan that we think covers a lot of bases for the community,” Knight said.

Harrietstown Town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach said the town is supportive of the space’s conversion and noted that the pavilion could be a good central meeting spot for community members.

“It takes an area that really wasn’t being utilized, and it turns it into multiple opportunities for year-round use,” she said. “It could be a place where you meet friends for lunch, it could be a pizza party for the baseball team, it could be a family reunion. Just an outdoor space that’s covered with picnic tables — that’s another asset in our community.”

The draft was created by Joe Garso of North Woods Engineering, with seed money provided by the Rotary Club. Mallach said the town has worked with Garso on other past projects.

“Given his connections to the community and understanding of the local population, he was the best fit,” she said.

With the draft plan on paper, Knight said the project can now move forward for grant funding. The final price tag for the park is still being determined as the design is refined, but construction is anticipated to begin in the spring.

“It’s likely going to happen in phases over a couple of years,” he said. “Obviously, we need to fundraise as we go, but we also want to make progress as we go and show that we’re getting it done along the way. We expect it would happen in a couple of different phases over a two-year period, potentially.”

Knight said much of the schedule depends on how the grants come in, but the current thinking would be to prioritize the T-ball and wiffle ball field, then the bocce courts and hockey box, then the pavilion with the warming area and bathrooms, as that is expected to be the most expensive component.

To view the draft plan and to submit questions or feedback, visit slybsa.org/htown-park.