Designs for a major makeover of Underwood Park in Falmouth are close to being completed and include natural play areas, a larger parking lot and two pickleball courts.

Aceto Landscape Architects presented its updated plans to the Falmouth Town Council last week. Improvements to the park on Foreside Road have been under discussion over the last six months and several public forums on the project have been held.

“We’ve come a long way in the last six months,” Town Manager Nathan Poore said. “We definitely have some things to chew on.”

The cost of the project is still unclear, and the town is not sure how it will be funded.

“We’ll have to think about designing what that next step is,” Poore said. “It might take conversation with staff and council leadership.”

Some council members believe the park should remain a small neighborhood park, while others are interested in expanding it to be more of a destination park.

The newest design is based on creating natural play, said Grace McNeill of Aceto Landscape Architects.

Updates are centered around a multi-use field. Natural play elements such as orchard tunnels and mounds, a butterfly garden and a loop path will be added, as well as a playground with equipment made from natural materials.

“We wanted to avoid a traditional plastic play structure and find something with more natural elements and a funky structure,” McNeill said.

Workout stations will also be available at the park, and after public input, two pickleball courts will also be added.

The current parking lot at the park has four spaces, but the most recent plan calls for 20.

Some Falmouth residents at the June 21 council meeting said they were concerned about noise and traffic resulting from the renovated park,  but all were in support of the project.

“I love it, I hope we can keep it on the fast track,” resident John Kirkham said.

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