A new committee, spearheaded by Principal Lisa Clarke, has formed to improve the land surrounding Southport Central School. The property is town-owned and used by all generations.

“The school uses it for outside learning and recreation: sledding on the hill, skating on the pond, games on the field, and playing in the woods and on the playground,” said Clarke. “But it’s also used by people in town for exercising dogs, meeting up with friends, playing kickball, and much more.”

The goal is to enhance the area for better school and community use, said Clarke.

“Both the school board and the select board are behind the idea, and Southport Island Association has been very supportive.”

The committee is calling the initiative the “Southport Common Project” and has hired William Carson Joyce of Carson Douglas Landscape Architecture to create a master plan.

At the July 22 select board meeting, committee member Emily Hurd said, “The Steering Committee has raised the $8,000 needed to fund the early planning. We hope to have visuals ready in time for a display at the Fireman’s Auction, Aug. 21, and then we’ll be seeking approval from the Select Board and the Planning Board.”

As the master plan is being developed, the committee hopes to hear from the public. “We’d like to expand the committee to cover a wide range of the local population, and to hear from as many people as possible,” Clarke said.

Ideas presented so far include expanding the playground and woodland area while keeping the grounds as natural as possible; creating a pavilion for school and community use; improving the gradient of the pond so that it is shallower in the middle; introducing stadium-type seating into the hillside beneath the school’s paved area; new seating around the pond; and creating a permanent outdoor teaching space.

“We’re very excited that this is gaining momentum so quickly,” said Clarke. “I know people think of the area as school grounds but it is town property and so is for everyone’s use. I hope that we can come together as a community to create something really special.”