LEWISTON – A controversial park bordering the city’s southern gateway is tied to a possible office building development, councilors said Tuesday.

City officials didn’t want to discuss the office building, saying it could ruin negotiations with developers. The item is central to the agenda of a special meeting on Thursday and City Administrator Jim Bennett said he will fully disclose the plans then.

But he didn’t get much chance to keep the issue quiet during Tuesday’s meeting. Community activists, lobbying to save a park downtown brought up the matter of development in the area.

Then, mayoral candidate Larry Gilbert pointedly asked Bennett if an office building was planned nearby.

Bennett said the city is negotiating to bring a 50,000-square-foot, four-story building to Lisbon Street. The development should add 400 professional jobs to the area, Bennett said.

Thursday’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Lewiston City Hall.

“But, as you know, there is some risk in saying too much, too early,” he said. The city has been working with developers for the last six months, he said.

But neighbors and local activists from the Visible Community said they were most concerned about returning a park to the corner of Maple and Park streets.

The park wasn’t on Tuesday’s council agenda, but Visible Community organizer Kate Brennan said the group has been lobbying City Hall to get the council to decide the fate of the park.

Organizer Craig Saddlemire urged the council to replace equipment that was removed two years ago when the city razed the nearby Ritz Cafe building. He praised efforts to bring jobs and redevelopment to the area, but said the park needed to come first.

“We ask that as a show of good faith, the city return the equipment to the park,” Saddlemire said.

Gilbert was in favor of it, too.

“If I was up there, I’d do it,” he said.

But other councilors said they wanted to wait and see what Bennett, developers and the downtown task force would have to say first.

“I’ll vote to put the park back in now, if that’s what you want,” Councilor Stavros Mendros said. “But if some good opportunity for the community comes along, I’ll be the first one to vote to take it right back out.”

It might not even be the best spot, Councilor Lillian O’Brien said.

“We are planning on putting a park back in this area, and whether this is the right spot or not we don’t know,” she said.