Mystic - The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center has submitted applications to the Stonington Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands commissions to further develop the Coogan Farm Nature and Heritage Center on Route 27.

According to the nature center, plans call for renovating the historic Coogan Farm house and barn, constructing an outdoor education pavilion, creating a pedestrian/bicycle trail that will connect Clara Drive to Route 27, and making other improvements to the existing trails and area. Also, the community Giving Garden that produced more than a ton of organic fresh produce for the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Bank this year will "be reconfigured to maximize production."

At the beginning of September, the nature center held the grand opening for the 45-acre Coogan Farm center. The ribbon-cutting culminated a 2½-year effort by the center and the Trust for Public Land to raise $4.1 million in public and private money to buy the property and create the heritage center.

Kent + Frost Landscape Architects of Mystic and Lindsay Liebig Roche Architects of New London are overseeing the design.

In a press release from the center, project leader Chad Frost called the designs "a contemporary interpretation of a farm."

"We wanted to pay homage to 350 years of history without simply replicating it. New improvements should be rooted in history, but reflect that they were constructed in 2015. We want the new to work harmoniously with the old."

There are three main parts of the project.

The first calls for renovating the Coogan farmhouse into a welcome center/retail shop on the ground level, classrooms and meeting spaces on the first floor and offices on the top floor. The small, white barn across the driveway from the farmhouse will be turned into classroom and exhibit space.

A 41-space parking lot will be constructed in the lower field next to the farmhouse and the farm's original driveway will be widened for use as a secondary entrance. A gathering plaza will be constructed between the farmhouse and the white barn.

The center said the parking lot will be constructed with a "low impact environmental design" that uses gravel rather than pavement and a stormwater runoff/drainage system that naturally filters runoff.

The second portion of the project involves redesigning the 2-acre Giving Garden and creating an adjacent outdoor classroom in an area that was once a quarry.

In addition, a post-and-beam pavilion called the Hamm Pavilion and Outdoor Classroom will be constructed next to the stone foundation known as the Paddock while the Greenmanville Trail will take visitors from Route 27 to the Hamm Pavilion.

The third part of the project involves the construction of a bicycle/pedestrian trail from Clara Drive through the property to Route 27. Bike racks will be located at both ends of the trail, and elsewhere on the property. Three parking spaces are proposed for the Clara Drive entrance. Existing trails on the site also will be improved.

The nature center anticipates that the town approval process, which will involve public hearings, will take a few months. Construction is expected to begin around March 2015 and take a year to complete.

j.wojtas@theday.com

Twitter: @joewojtas