BREMERTON — The City of Bremerton has big plans to renovate the 1.7-acre Manette Playfield.

“It’s basically a complete park overhaul,” said Colette Berna with the Parks and Recreation department. “The park has not seen any capital investment in some time. They playground is over 20 years old.”

Berna said that some parts of the playground equipment needed replacing, but they were so old, the manufacturer no longer makes them, so they needed to be removed and the area roped off.

Part of the renovation plans include completely replacing the playground equipment. They also include making the park ADA compliant, replacing one of the two tennis courts with a multi-sports court, replacing the bathroom, creating a sheltered picnic area, adding walking paths between the features of the park and improving drainage on the fields. The playground equipment will be separated into two sections: one for children under 5 years old and one for children ages 5 to 12.

A survey was taken by 150 community members to offer input to the plans. New playground equipment was chosen as the No. 1 priority by 34.5 percent (the largest percentage).

Given limited resources, survey takes chose the following areas to emphasize:

— 18.4 percent chose improving play opportunities for children.

— 17.5 percent chose improving the restroom facilities.

— 17.2 percent chose adding a family picnic area with a covered shelter.

— 14.2 percent chose reorganizing the park to make best use of the space and views.

— 12.1 percent chose improving the park’s attractiveness.

— 10.3 percent chose creating defined trail systems between park features.

— 5.4 percent chose improving the park entrances.

— 4.8 percent chose upgrading the sports facilities.

A public meeting was held Tuesday, April 26, to discuss the plans with community members and receive input.

“In a compact, urban neighborhood like Manette, a park should really serve as that green respite where people go to and have access to nature,” Berna said at the meeting, “and right now, it’s not doing that.”

David Hedger, a parks commissioner and a member of the Manette Neighborhood Coalition, said, “The demographics of the neighborhood have changed, to the point where instead of being older — what some people have called ‘seasoned’ — folks, we have a lot of young families moving in, a lot more kids taking advantage of the park.

“Redeveloping the park would allow for more successful use of the park by the people that are using it.”

The Manette Neighborhood Coalition has pledged $75,000 to the renovation, and they are currently working to raise the funds for that. Hedger said they’ve partnered with the Kitsap Community Foundation to raise money through a pass-through fund, and all donations are tax deductible.

“I think the response has been overwhelmingly positive and just been very enthusiastic,” Hedger said.

At the meeting, Hedger added, “We have I think what is called ‘Manette pride’ in what this (park) will be. I think we’ve got to jump on that pride and we’ve got to show people in Manette and people in Bremerton that Manette takes care of its own, and that we can be counted on to come up with $75,000.”

The city is also in the process for applying for three grants to fully fund the renovation, said Berna. Two are state grants through the Recreation and Conservation office, which would total $750,000. The third is a National Parks and Recreation grant; the city is asking for $357,000 from that. The city will learn if they received the state grants in October, and will hear about the national grant around June 30, Berna said.

“If we received all the grants, we would start engineering and designing the park probably this fall,” Berna said. “We could start construction as early as next summer if we receive all three grants. That would be the earliest.”

If construction is started in summer 2017, Berna said the park would be ready for use the following summer.

Plans to renovate the park date back to 2012, when Berna said the city started revising their Open Space Plan.

“Manette Playfield was at the top of the list as a high priority to be renovated, mainly because it just hasn’t had a capital investment for some time,” Berna said. “The playground is falling apart, the tennis courts are cracked, the restroom is substandard, nothing is ADA compliant.”

Also discussed at the meeting was the possibility of changing the name of the park.

“Right now, it’s called Manette Playfield,” Berna said, “and it’s not inclusive of all the other amenities that are going to be on the park. We want to get (public) input on what they want their name to be.”

Two suggestions were Manette Park and Manette Neighborhood Park.

One commenter at the meeting said, “I think that in the common, everyday communication about the park, it’s called Manette Park …  The neighborhood is Manette, and a park can entail green space and fields and all kinds of activities. It’s an omnibus term, it’s an encompassing term. I like the simplicity of ‘Manette Park.’ ”

Another commenter agreed: “I would say, no brainer. Manette Park.”

To learn more about the renovation, visit www.manetteparkimprovement.org — where donations can be made — or the Manette Park Improvement Project Facebook. Donations can also be made at kcf.smalldognet.com/erp/donate (scroll down to Pass-Through Funds).