New London - Sailing, bicycle paths, walking trails and community gardens at Riverside Park are some of the activities the Parks and Recreation Commission hopes will draw more people to use the public open space in the northeast end of the city.

In advance of a referendum in November, when residents will decide if they want to sell about half of the 18.5-acre park to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for $2.9 million, a recreation commission subcommittee this week issued a 15-page report on the park.

Among the suggestions is the creation of a Riverside Nature Park and Recreation District to oversee the park and other surrounding public spaces, including the playgrounds at nearby Winthrop School and Fulton Park and the basketball courts on Crystal Avenue.

The City Council asked the commission in September to review the status of the park and report back on both the impact of losing a portion of it and options for the future.

The report does not make a recommendation for or against the sale but includes plans for the entire park and ideas for the portion along the waterfront that will be left if a sale goes through.

"The commission does not want to be political, but wants to be proactive,'' said Tommy Major, the city's Parks and Recreation director and also a member of the subcommittee.

Major said he envisions a Riverside Park group of volunteers similar to Ocean Beach Park's Save Ocean Beach, which supports the park in the south end of the city and is active in renovations, raising funds for improvements and beautifying the beach.

Although the report is clear on the first page that it "should not be construed as an endorsement for and against the proposed sale,'' in later pages the committee asks the city to consider whether the park is "a symbol of a vibrant and hopeful future" or a giveaway "for the immediate gratification of $2.9."

Nancy Baude, a member of the committee, said the report is neutral, but she is against the sale.

"I'm for saving it,'' she said. "It should be a passive park and it shouldn't cost that much money to keep it clean and to keep the grass down.''

She said the city has long neglected the northeast end of New London, which was cut off from most of the city in the 1960s and 1970s with urban renewal and construction of the twin spans of the Goldstar Memorial Bridge.

"We don't have that much open space left in the city,'' Baude said. "They've taken a lot of things away.''

Last year, the City Council approved the sale of the park to the Coast Guard Academy, which wants to expand its 103-acre campus. Voters will have a final say on the matter in the November referendum.

Over the past 15 years or so, the city has considered giving away or selling the park for several uses, including a magnet high school, a Coast Guard Museum and a homeland security training facility. While all those plans fell through, there was little objection to giving up the land, which many said was underutilized and not well maintained.

But soon after the Coast Guard and the city began negotiating the latest deal, residents rallied to keep the waterfront park. Friends of Riverside Park, a loosely organized group, has hundreds of members and is actively campaigning to defeat the referendum.

k.edgecomb@theday.com

Regatta Day Saturday

Friends of Riverside Park, a group that organized last year in an effort to prevent the city from selling off the park, are hosting a Yale-Harvard Regatta Day from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the park.

Every year since 1878, except for five occasions, the Thames River has been the site of the oldest collegiate athletic competition in the United States.

Saturday's event is free and open to the public and will include games, events, music, and a hot dog roast provided by City Councilor Rob Pero.