Almont Park in Mattapan will see significant renovations, possibly beginning next year, according to Boston’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Residents discussed park improvements in a meeting with city officials and lawmakers at a public meeting held last Wednesday evening, Oct 20 at the Mattahunt Middle School.

About twenty people attended the meeting, which included representatives of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. The project is in the planning stages of a $3.6 million investment to renovation in the park. With a layout planned by CBA Landscape Architects, the park will add several new features including new tennis courts, playgrounds and a brand new AstroTurf football field, which will serve as the home field for the Mattapan Patriots. The parks existing features such as the cricket field, and the walking paths will be updated and rehabilitated as well.

“Mattapan is a wonderful place,” said Garrett Kincaid, president of the Colorado St. Citizens group. “People have come to this idea that Mattapan is a bad neighborhood, but this park will show people that Mattapan is not such a bad place after all.”

The funding will be provided from the city’s capital budget, according to City Councillor Rob Consalvo, who attended the meeting, along with City Councillor Charles Yancey, State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry and other representatives from city and state offices.

The project has been in talks with the community for the better part of two years, say constituents. Wednesday night’s meeting was the fifth official dialogue concerning the park. DPR representatives expect one last meeting to be held, tentatively on Nov 17, to discuss final details such as artistic elements and aesthetics. Construction is slated to begin either in September 2011 or April 2012, depending on the schedules of the Mattapan Patriots and Tenacity, a local youth tennis program which operate at the park currently.

“The project is unique in that this park will be for everyone,” said City Councillor Rob Consalvo. “This is the result of the community members coming out to these meetings and saying, ‘This is what we want.’”