OLD ORCHARD BEACH (AP) – Town officials looking to sell a vacant minor league baseball park have begun putting development possibilities before voters.

Town Manager Jim Thomas said residents will decide in a September referendum whether to sell the 50-acre site that holds The Ballpark, plus another 25 acres that include Old Orchard Beach High School’s football and baseball fields.

The 75-acre site, largely unused, could be transformed into a $60 million development with dozens of new townhouses and condominiums, a 300-room hotel, a 35,000-square foot supermarket, a bank, a restaurant and retail space, according to Thomas.

He said the land could be sold for at least $2.5 million, with yearly property tax revenue totaling at least $1 million.

“Nothing of this magnitude has ever been proposed with the public,” Thomas said Tuesday during a press conference at Town Hall. “So our goal in the next 60 days is to educate the public about what can be developed.”

Old Orchard Beach’s charter requires a townwide vote on any public purchase or sale of real estate. The vote will be scheduled for Sept. 7, Allen said.

Drawings for the site also include a 16,000-20,000-square foot library and public walking paths.

Thomas said school officials favor building new sports fields on town-owned land northeast of the high school.

The residential/commercial development has backing.

“It would begin to make Old Orchard into a town for someone other than the tourists,” said Town Planner Sandra Lie.

Three possible scenarios developed by Malone Commercial Brokers of Portland were made public on Tuesday. All would mean the demise of The Ballpark, where the Triple-A Maine Guides played in the 1980s.

The 6,000-seat stadium’s press box is boarded up, and tall weeds and bushes fill what was once the outfield.

AP-ES-06-22-05 0215EDT

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