For years, Portsmouth officials have debated the idea of building a multi-story parking garage at the current site of the Worth Lot on Maplewood Avenue. If such a facility was built, there would be little need for the 63-space lot across the street. That would leave the city with an open downtown parcel to use however it sees fit.

Discussion on the proposed parking garage has been tabled until at least July. But city councilors are still considering what might be done with the Bridge Street Lot, located at the corner of Maplewood Avenue and Islington Street, if the development were to arise. Councilor Anthony Coviello has suggested a public park at the site and presented a rendering at a recent council meeting.

Generated by Terra Firma Landscape Architecture, the rendering shows a park filled with trees, gardens and lawn space. The entry area at the corner of Maplewood and Islington includes a plaza, a one-story building and a public restroom. There’s a sculpted lawn in the middle of the illustration, and a sloped amphitheater lawn faces a music shell and stage at the rear of the park by Hanover Street.

Coviello said such a park would help expand the downtown area by attracting pedestrians toward Islington Street. He said the proposal would fit with the city’s Islington Street Improvement Action Plan.

“When I talk to urban planners, what they describe as part of the problem is the downtown stops when you get to the corner of Congress and Maplewood,” Coviello said, noting the busy four-way intersection and parking lot. “That’s a long expanse for the pedestrian where they don’t feel like they have a connection to the surroundings.”

Coviello stressed that the rendering is just a rough design and could be subject to numerous changes. But he believes erecting a building at the base of Islington Street would provide some continuity for pedestrians traveling along Congress Street. The building could be used for any number of purposes.

“I’m just saying there are a lot of options here,” Coviello said. “There’s no limit to the opportunities there.”

The city does not plan to make any changes to the Bridge Street Lot until it has made a decision about the parking garage in the Worth Lot. Discussion on that proposal will likely resume in the summer.