Revamped Boston Common could include more trees, benches and restrooms, a bigger playground and a soccer field that could also be used for events

The city yesterday released its Boston Common Master Plan, an "aspirational" set of goals for bringing the nation's oldest park into the 21st century as a more inclusive, less confusing area for Bostonians and visitors to relax and play in.

Known as the "people's park," the Boston Common requires a plan that coalesces many competing needs to create a unified vision that will serve the people of Boston and visitors alike. Five principles are set forth to guide all recommendations. They focus on shared use and care, visitor experience and engagement, and the balance of upholding historic character and serving contemporary needs. An inclusive stakeholder and public involvement process helped develop the goals and objectives that underpin the master plan vision and guiding principles.

The proposal calls for better signage to lead visitors to the Common's various attractions - including the under-construction "Embrace" Martin Luther King memorial - and even attempt to better define the Common as a unique park. The report cites the current exit onto Charles Street and the plaza along Tremont Street as current weaknesses:

At the two MBTA stations, people often dash to the subway, not considering that the plaza space is actually park land. The mid-block entrance on Charles Street is often misunderstood as moving between two parts of the same greenspace instead of leaving one (the Public Garden) and entering another (the Common). While this porosity between park and city speaks to the Common’s spirit of openness, the ambiguity also weakens the identity of the Common.

The proposal calls for lots more trees, and, based on renderings, extensive replanting and maintenance of lush, green grass fields.

Also proposed: A near tripling the size of the Tadpole Playground and converting one end of the Frog Pond into a large splash pad, and making both the playground and the Frog Pond ADA compliant.

Greater inclusion would include such steps as making the Parkman Bandstand accessible to people in wheelchairs and converting the land now used for one of the two baseball fields into a soccer field - which could double as a seating area for events requiring the stage that might be installed along one side.

Land near the bandstand would become new basketball courts and an enclosed dog park, with more than just grass as amenities for four-footed Bostonians.

Birds wonder where left and center field would be during a soccer match:

The tennis courts would be moved and overlaid with markings to allow their use as pickleball courts. More benches would be installed - and older, damaged ones replaced - but using more easily maintained steel supports instead of the concrete used today.

Signage will also play an important role in the new Common, the report says:

Finding your way through the Common is not intuitive; ironically, even the [visitor information center] is difficult to find. The visitor experience on the Common will be markedly improved by implementing a comprehensive approach to wayfinding and informational signage. Adding signs at critical nodes and informational markers at destination amenities will clarify wayfinding across the park. A combination of "You are Here" maps to each location will set expectations as to where park features are in relation to one another. The signs will be intentionally placed at locations that visually connect to one another, so visitors can easily move between markers until they reach their destination. Above all, it is important that the number and design of any new vertical signage be consistent with the Common's historic character.

Even the Earl of Sandwich, or as the report calls, it "the concession space" would get a redo to "make it a more functional outdoor eatery and small gathering space." The currently cramped visitor information center on Tremont Street would be expanded to add more restroom facilities and some "grab-and-go vending options."

The report proposes keeping one thing the same: The ban on bike riding in the park. Instead, it calls on BTD to fully implement a separate plan for protected bike paths along Tremont Street, Boylston Street, Beacon Street and Charles Street, so that bicyclists can safely navigate the surrounding streets without risking bowling over pedestrians inside the park:

The Common's park administrator, in coordination with Boston Police and Park Rangers, will encourage use of these dedicated bike lanes and continue to enforce the “No Biking” regulation in place on the Common.