City officials on Monday unveiled the Phase 1 plans for the new Sunset Area Park, but council members worried that some of the new amenities might be inviting to the city’s growing homeless population and asked for some enhanced security features.

Saying the new park was a “long time in the making,” Parks Planning and Natural Resources Director Leslie Betlach told the Committee of the Whole that the new 3.2-acre park will create a new gathering space and open areas to meet the needs of the Sunset neighborhood, which has a lot of ballfield and hard courts, but fewer green spaces.

“What there isn’t in this area is a large community gathering area that’s not programmed,” she said.

When completed, the new park will contain large open spaces, two playgrounds for children of different ages, an adult fitness area, a pergola with a free library built in and a new water feature, as well as a restroom facility.

Originally designed to be built in two phases, Betlach said the city revised plans to three phases with the first set to go to bid early next year. Included in the first phase will be the open spaces, two plazas, a neighborhood promenade (in the approximate location of the current Harrington Avenue Northeast), a pergola and benches, trails and a restroom, which Betlach said was the top priority of those in the neighborhood.

Phase 1 is expected to cost about $2.55 million, with $1.7 million coming from a legislative grant and the rest from the city.

Among the features included in Phase 1 is a new pergola and benches to be located on the northeast corner. According to Betlach, the benches are being designed to include a free library system, one in which residents take and leave books from a public facility.

Several council members, including Don Persson and Ruth Perez, said they were excited about the new park, but worried that the new benches might be too inviting for people to sleep on and asked for additional lighting and security measures to make it less so.

“Now is the time we need to address proper security,” Persson said, in order to prevent the area from becoming a “hoodlum park.”

Ed Prince agreed, saying if the area becomes a space for the homeless, the park will not be “the public amenity we hope it will be.”

“After that happens, we will have a hard time getting people to go back to the park,” he said.

The city agreed to return later this year with a report addressing the council’s concerns.

Design work on Phases 2 and 3 of the park will begin next year, but the plans include a new water feature, the playgrounds, a picnic area, the adult fitness area — the first of its type in the city — and the perimeter loop trail.

Phase 2 is expected to cost about $2.3 million. The city has already applied for three grants totaling about $2.5 million. The rest will come from city funds.

Phase 3 is expected to cost $1.2 million and work will begin on that in 2018.

The city has been working with the Renton Housing Authority, the Renton School District and the King County Library System for more than a decade to try to revitalize the Sunset Area, which is beginning to take shape.

The new library opened earlier this year and construction continues on new housing and other amenities.

Council President Randy Corman said the new park was a major “shot in the arm” for the neighborhood, even more so than some residents may believe now.

“I’m excited about it,” he said.