MARION — The land between Route 6 and the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center is largely wide open. Council on Aging Board Chairperson Harry Norweb presented plans at an Aug. 11 Selectmen’s meeting to create a park in that space.

Norweb hopes to install a pavilion, an all-inclusive playground, game courts and benches in the area.

He hopes that the driveway and parking lot will be redone soon as part of the town’s many capital projects.

Selectmen agreed that the park would be a good use of the space.

“There’s a lot we need to beautify on this property,” Selectman John Waterman said.

The project would be rolled out in two parts.

Phase one would address the land in between the community center and Route 6, as well as fixing the driveway.

Town Administrator Jay McGrail said he talked with an engineer who said that the current driveways could easily be made into two-way entrances and exits.

Phase two would focus on the land on the other side of the main driveway to the left of the property.

Norweb presented the plan not for approval, but for the blessing to start fundraising for the project through the Friends of Marion’s Council on Aging and Friends of Marion Recreation. 

Though Selectmen liked the idea, they wanted to see a more in-depth plan. In particular, they wanted to see the full site layout that includes property lines, spacing, and other engineering aspects to get a better scope of the project. 

Select Board Chair Randy Parker said with this plot of land, “we have to use it to the best of our abilities.”

Norweb didn’t present a budget for the park, but McGrail said that the next step for the project is to appropriate money for it at Town Meeting.

During the conversation on funding, Town Finance Director Judy Mooney said that the money for the project can’t be simply taken out of the town’s budget.

“Money doesn’t fall from the trees,” Mooney said.

Between design, approval and the work done in both phases, the project would take three to five years to complete.