A recently unveiled plan to significantly expand the facilities at Hedgehog Park has evoked mixed reactions from some Salem residents.

“I like it the way it is,” said Kevin McGann, who has been coming to the park for the last three or four months during his lunch breaks.

“I just sneak out for lunch and read my book,” he said, sitting on a fold-out beach chair by the edge of the pond. “It’s close to work and close to home.”

A regular sunbather at the park, Mark Patterson described the current park as “beautiful.”

“When I used to come here, it was called the ‘polio- pit.’ It was dirty,” he said while tanning on the beachfront, which is expected to be expanded to a 100-foot stretch of sand by the time renovations on the park are complete.

“It’s a great thing to have in your backyard,” he said. “I think it’s beautiful. No bugs and the water is all cleaned up.”

While recreation director Chris Dillon has heard from a few residents that the park is fine just the way it is, many more have come to his office to tell him that they love the plan to expand and develop the park.

“Some of the people who use Hedgehog Park and have for years like the park the way it is. Currently, it is that quiet place to get away and go swimming and obviously this will change part of that atmosphere,” he said.

Dillon has proposed a master plan for the park that will include installing the town’s first skate park, renovating the changing and restroom facilities and constructing a pavilion for picnics and parties, enlarging the beach area and putting in basketball and tennis courts.

Existing horseshoe and volleyball facilities are expected to be renovated, as well as the walkway that extends around Hedgehog Pond. Dillon hopes area Boy Scouts or Eagle candidates will be interested in undertaking some of the smaller projects.

“I’m originally from the Midwest,” he said. “I grew up where there are parks and you grew up in communities where you went to these facilities. They had recreational facilities that addressed all sorts of various pursuits and activities.”

A renovated and expanded Hedgehog Park could fulfill that role for Salem, Dillon said.

“What this town could use is a place that is kind of like Griffin Pºark (in Windham). It’s a place people go to because there is so much to do there,” he said. “We have the space at Hedgehog to do something similar.”

The idea to expand the role Hedgehog Park currently plays in Salem came up over the winter when selectmen began looking for a place to put a town skate park. By March, planners had arrived at Hedgehog Park as the best location. A month later, larger scale planning for the park took off.

In the meantime, Dillon said the number of visitors to the park has jumped as well.

“I don’t know if its a combination of gas prices or news attention, but the park has seen a large increase this year over last year,” he said. “More and more people are starting to use it.”

Don Johnson, a lifeguard at the pond for the past two years, has watched the popularity of the park increase.

“It’s a lot more crowded. There are a lot of younger families,” he said. “I think (Hedgehog Park) has been advertised a little more, and people are aware that it’s going to be expanded.”

Last week Dillon began meeting with engineers at the Manchester-based SFC Engineering firm. By the end of the summer and into the early autumn, Dillon hopes to have most of the trees that need to be cleared to complete the renovations out of the park.

He is planning on the skate park opening next year, while plans to construct the new pavilion – currently scheduled for 2014 – may be moved up in the meantime as funds become available.

Plans to build the basketball and tennis courts will be on hold until Dillon can find the money, either through state grants or other avenues, to construct them.

“The basketball and tennis courts would be the largest financial issue, so it depends on if we are accepted by the grants and can come up with matching funds,” he said. “It’s the largest hurdle to overcome, but I definitely believe that we can overcome that.”

First-time park visitor Suzy Rago said the park is very convenient for her family.

“This is nice. The yearly admission is affordable and it’s got the water and the sand,” Rago said. “It’s great for kids. I’d like the beach to be a little bigger, but that’s it.”