A Thomas College senior who has been trying for years to build momentum for improvements to a South End park plans to hold a public meeting to get input on the project.

Dave Dutil, who has been raising money for more than two-and-a-half years to build a skate park at Green Street Park, is inviting other South End residents to meet 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Muskie Center on Gold Street.

Dutil said he wants to get together with other neighborhood residents because he doesn’t want to push for a project without input from other locals on what they would like to see.

“The whole point is to get people to take ownership of the park,” he said.

The effort to improve Green Street Park began in October 2012, with Dutil trying to add better equipment to the small skate park, where he roller-skated when growing up.

With a May 1 deadline for hearing back on a number of grants for the park, Dutil said he’ll know by then what kind of resources are in place to go ahead with the project. Fundraising momentum has come and gone. A little more than $500 has been raised in scattered cash donations over the first two years. Resident Ellen Wells donated $1,000 for a water fountain. Dutil hosted a haunted trail event in October in the South End, with attendees paying a $3 admission to support the park.

Dutil said by phone Friday that the Skate Park Association, which he formed to raise money for the project, changed its name recently to the Friends of Green Street Park. The group is considering other park improvements, such as a trail or improvements to the disc golf course.

Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252

kschroeder@centralmaine.com

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