The Planning Board received its first look Wednesday at plans for a spruced up Esta’s Park and liked what it saw.

For years the downtown park has languished as a mostly barren dirt lot surrounded by a white picket fence. Last year the town’s Old Harbor Task Force sponsored a contest to redesign the park and selected a plan by island landscaper Beth Rowe.

The plan includes creating a handicapped-accessible pathway, planting numerous shrubs and flowers and installing two pergolas to provide shade. Plant height would intentionally be kept low to preserve views of the ocean and for security purposes.

Planning Board Chairwoman Margaret Comings set a “ballpark” price tag of $25,000 to complete the project, which must be approved by the Town Council and Historic District Commission. Comings, who also sits on the Old Harbor Task Force, said the group hoped to fund the park through a combination of town money, private donations, grants and volunteer labor. The park, she estimated, could take two years to complete.

In other business, the Planning Board learned that Fishead building owner Mary Jane Balser will soon deliver revised plans that raise the first floor a foot higher than expected. The additional foot is required because of the type of flood zone the lot is in. Balser will now need to add exterior stairs and decking that will require approval from the Planning and Zoning boards. The building height will not change.

The board sent a favorable advisory opinion to the Zoning Board for John and Pam Gasner to construct a three-bedroom single-family home on a lot at the corner of Corn Neck Road and Beach Avenue (Plat 5, Lot 51). Plans also call for a separate garage and a separate office. Another outbuilding containing a bedroom is also proposed. The couple said they proposed four buildings to conform to a town initiative that encourages building multiple small structures as opposed to one massive house.

The Planning Board sent a favorable advisory opinion to the Zoning Board for Glenn and Karen Sweet to build a 112-square-foot shed (Plat 19, Lot 56). However, the board suggested the Zoning Board require the couple to eliminate 100-square feet of decking around the homes on the property to keep lot coverage to a minimum.

The Planning Board granted preliminary approval for dividing the Old Town Inn lot (Plat 17, Lot 27) into two lots. A 1.51-acre lot will contain a single-family house and a 2.37-acre lot will contain the inn. The inn owners have said they may sell the house but will continue to own and operate the inn. The application now goes to the Zoning Board for review and will return to the Planning Board for final approval.

The board approved subdividing the Jacke property off Champlin Road (Plat 19, Lot 42) into two pieces. The Housing Board is planning to construct affordable houses on the two lots.