LEWISTON — City and school officials have unveiled a proposal to upgrade the Franklin Pasture athletic complex at Lewiston High School, with hopes of raising as much as $5 million for the project.

The project, which will likely be up for city council and school committee approval in July, is designed “to bring Franklin Pasture into the 21st century and meet, certainly school needs, but also the community needs,” Lewiston school Superintendent Bill Webster said.

Members of the Lewiston Athletic Foundation Trustees brought the plan before the Lewiston School Committee Monday night and will present it to the Lewiston City Council during a special meeting and workshop Tuesday night.

The project covers 100 acres containing five athletic fields and eight tennis courts surrounding the high school. The complex is owned by the city and used for school and community recreation.

A “Franklin Pasture Improvement Guide” commissioned by the Lewiston Athletic Foundation Trustees and drafted by Harriman Architects and Engineers contains a list of improvements. The guide, which does not include design plans, estimates the cost of the improvements therein at $3.448 million. The foundation’s goal is to raise $5 million to include additional costs and improvements and a fund for future maintenance of the complex.

The improvements include:

• Installation of a FieldTurf artificial surface to replace the grass surface on Don Roux Field, home to Lewiston’s football, soccer and lacrosse teams

• Also at Don Roux Field, track resurfacing, construction of new restroom and concession facilities and seating upgrades on the visitor’s side

• Installation of FieldTurf, lights, seats and other improvements to what is now the practice field behind the school so that it can be used to host lacrosse and field hockey games; football and soccer would remain at Don Roux Field

• Lights and a press box for the baseball field, with a spectator and picnic area

• New lights, press box, scoreboard and irrigation for Upper Franklin, which hosts school and community softball games and practices

• Field widening and support building upgrade at Marcotte Park, site of youth soccer and lacrosse games and practices

• Resurfacing of the tennis courts with improved drainage and a restroom facility; this portion of the project is already included in the FY 2013 capital improvement budget.

School officials said the improvements are needed to meet the needs of the growing student population and number of sports the school system offers.

“We have a growing student enrollment in Lewiston,” Webster said. “We have the interest and the need for more sports teams. We just added lacrosse to the middle school, and as we add sports, we can’t keep putting the same demands on that field. Absent these changes, we’re going to have to look at doing more elsewhere in the city, whether it’s at a Bates College field or any other field I’m not aware of.”

“Ideally, I hope this generates more excitement and more energy into our athletic programs,” Lewiston athletic director Jason Fuller said. “In terms of education, the way our standards are set forth, athletics help kids academically and also build character. It only makes their education experience more positive.”

Fuller said a new complex could attract state championship games and make it attractive for organizations to rent for their athletic events.

“I think this is a place that people are going to want to come to, to experience championship games,” Fuller said.

Officials said they have not broken down how funding would be split between city and school budgets and community and private fundraising. They are hoping for community fundraising to cover the majority, if not all, of the projects costs and plan to tap corporate sponsors and alumni for money and rely on the labor of vocational students to minimize the impact on city and school budgets and Lewiston taxpayers.

A timeline for fundraising and completion of the project will be established if and when the city and school boards give fundraising efforts their blessing.

 “There’s a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m pretty confident we can raise the necessary money and get this thing rolling,” Fuller said.

Franklin Pasture opened in September 1995 with a $1.9 million price tag, with most of the cost covered by a Department of Housing and Urban Development grant. Growing demand for use of the complex by teams and community members has put a strain on the condition of its fields and their availability to all who want to use them, officials said.

“The facility is kind of undersized now for the community needs, because not only does the high school use it, we have the Lewiston rec department that uses it,” said Lewiston Finance Director Heather Hunter, who is a member of the Lewiston Athletic Foundation Trustees. “There are numerous adult groups and just the general citizenry that use it for the tennis courts and walking the track and so on. Between the facility being undersized and the lack of significant maintenance, the facility is starting to show its age.”

Lewiston Recreation Director Maggie Chisholm said the proposed improvements would allow for greater community usage of the facilities. Since school teams are given scheduling priority during the school year, many of the facilities are not available to the general public until early in the evening.

“The benefits are endless,” Chisholm said. “There would be greater room for usage, especially with the artificial turf and the lighting. We could certainly use those fields to a much later time in the evening and have the ability to schedule more activities and extend activities.”

The key to making the fields more available is the FieldTurf surface, estimated in the guide to cost $750,000 at Don Roux Field and $650,000 at what is now the practice field. Chisholm said she doesn’t book those and some other fields in the complex for community activities after the fall and spring seasons because the grass surface is too torn up.

“They need the time to heal from all of the use that they receive (during the season),” Chisholm said. “We won’t have those restrictions, hopefully, especially on the artificial turf. I see greater use and more possibilities.”

The City Council workshop is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.