 The summer-long construction project in South Portland's Mill Creek Park is over. Last weekend, the city held a grand reopening, and Brian Knoblock got a preview from Parks and Recreation Director Rick Toll. Rick, we're here in Mill Creek Park just before the grand reopening, the new improvements that have been put in through the course of the summer. It's been a little rough summer for people who enjoy the park, a lot of construction going on. But there were four major areas that have been improved here, so let's sort of step through them. We'll be happy to. Well, first, I'm standing on one, and it's probably the one most noticeable from Ocean Avenue for most people coming through the Mill Creek region, which is the plaza. The plaza itself is approximately 65 feet long in its arched shape, and it follows along the pond. It is historically a place where people either had their high school picture taken for their senior year, or they may have even had their wedding pictures taken next to this pond, and behind me, actually on the bridge that used to span the pond made by Mr. Guy Erskine and his crew, the former Public Works Director. But this cobblestone structure and granite smooth structure is set up so that we can do events, or you could sit quietly on a fall afternoon like today and overlook the beautiful foliage within the park and the greenscape. So it's a wonderful facility, and it's a nice amenity to it. There are about a dozen benches that go along the back of it so you can rest with your friends or a neighbor or make a new friend here at the plaza. It's quite beautiful and a very nice place to contemplate nature and just take a break from things. Oh, certainly. What else? Well, behind me as well also is our gazebo that was put in about 18 months ago. However, there are architectural features in that area that were improved and erosion control and a lot of vegetation that were put in to help support the pond long term and also help people access the park in a way that they previously couldn't with the gazebo behind it and walk through and stabilize the path through the center of the park, primarily going from Cottage Road to Ocean Road. And it's really neat to see people use it, especially moms or folks in a wheelchair or someone who needs assistance. It helped make that path a lot smoother and a lot better. And it added a beautiful architectural feature to that part of the pond. So when you're standing over on Hinkley or over on Ocean, you can look back at it and see it in almost a 180 degree view and it's really pretty. The architectural stonework and the cap that's on it. And what about the formal public garden area? Well, that's over on Ocean Avenue and Broadway. And there are two columns that we placed from a local mason sailboats in that are really nice facing inward. And those columns are sit there and there's going to be an arch over the top of them welcoming you to that garden. The garden has a cobblestone surface on the inside and stabilization, but a lot of beautiful vegetation that goes around it and puts you on your own kind of little space. You can kind of escape there. And it's hard to believe it's such a busy intersection, but you'll see over time how it just as it grows in and fills out, it creates that personal space. We could read a book or just contemplate the day. And finally, we have the Millstone Plaza area at the corner. Perhaps the main entrance, if you will, to the park. What's what happened there? Yeah, I mean, you have that Veterans Memorial green and those areas that are over in that part. So that's your kind of fourth component. But there are pathways created there specifically to help people get through and access the Memorial, and it's a really nice amenity. Previously, it was a green, but it had no real way if it had been raining or not stable surfaces to access it. There's also a small parking area for those who want to come view it, who may have needs of assistance for accessibility that are going in. So it's a great improvement to that area without hurting the canopy and the natural tree line and or the surface where people would lay out. And again, you know, just kind of sit back and relax with the family or have a small picnic. The Mill Creek Park is sort of the town green of South Portland, if you will. It's right in the center of town and the center of all the action. And it gets a lot of use. Why was it important to have all these improvements done? They made it better, but they also stabilized it a bit. Is that right? Yeah, it's function. You have to have the function. And if you can't have it, you have a situation where over time the pond would erode into itself and we wouldn't be able to access it easily. You have situations where people have unstable surfaces and make it miserable for them to go through the park. We live in Maine. We have a very short summer season, so we have to contend with all kinds of conditions most of the year. Are there any things on the drawing board for Phase 2? Yeah, Phase 2 and 3 were part of the overall master planning process. Those include more erosion control and stabilization of the brook that goes down through and out to the out to the main water in Casco Bay, Mill Creek itself. So you have to look at, you know, that in the long term and expect it some improvements to the green belt that goes directly down through it, which is kind of the spine of our recreation system in the city, but also a great asset within the whole park itself as many users. So those two phases will bring that all together and help it all tie in. It'll also help with some of the areas that right now haven't been able to be controlled to help the trees, the erosion of those so that their roots are not exposed and those trees are healthy and stay with us as a canopy throughout the park. So there's a lot of little neat things, but we're going to do them in ways that make it a much more inviting amenity.