A $55 million upgrade to parkland along Buffalo Bayou is set to add performance venues, improve recreational areas and revitalize downtown-area green space that officials hope will become a magnet and refuge similar to New York's Central Park.

Houston City Council on Wednesday approved an operating agreement paving the way for construction, including a major restructuring of Buffalo Bayou and restoration of its ecosystems. The Harris County Commissioners Court will take up a similar agreement Tuesday.

The plan's cost will be covered by $50 million in donations, including $30 million from The Kinder Foundation, with construction expected to run from June 2012 through 2015. The city will contribute $2 million annually to maintain and operate the upgraded park, and the Harris County Flood Control District will pitch in $5 million to assist with changes to the waterway. The Buffalo Bayou Partnership still is raising private funds for the project.

The restructuring effort will focus on a 158-acre, 2.3-mile stretch of the bayou between Shepherd and Sabine, with an emphasis on "resculpting" the bayou channel to restore a more natural meandering path that was scraped away during a 1950s flood control project, said Guy Hagstette, a consultant for the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, which developed the plan.

The project is expected to double the amount of trees currently in the park area while clearing out invasive brush, vines and dying or dead trees.

"It's going to take a really nice amenity and just make it a jewel," Mayor Annise Parker said this week.

Performance pavilion

Aside from the major focus of cleaning up silt, invasive plants and other buildup in the channel to make the bayou more visible and accessible from the park, the major destination is expected to be an area called Water Music Place. The football field-size green space and a covered performance pavilion will be placed on top of an unused underground reservoir inside a fenced, 5-acre plot next to the Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark.

An adjacent plaza, including a visitor center and elevated terrace that could offer as many as 6,000 square feet for a possible restaurant, will create a gateway to the park on Sabine, Hagstette said. The plaza will be located next to a planned nature playground.

Farther to the west, near Dunlavy and Allen Parkway, an area called Lost Lake would add a pond, visitor center, up to 3,500 square feet of potential restaurant space and a canoe and kayak rental shop.

Those changes and others will be valuable to Houstonians, including many who cannot afford to take their families on vacations amid the current economic climate, Councilman James Rodriguez said.

"It's another great destination for our kids and families to go," he said. "I think that could be very popular."

New walking, bike trails

In other areas, a portion of Eleanor Tinsley Park will be transformed into a grass bowl and performance area to create a home for July Fourth celebrations and other festivals. The change will involve clearing out swing sets and dead or dying pine trees.

An area near Studemont and Allen Parkway, currently used as an informal dog park, will be supplemented with a pond and animal play area. Space around the dandelion-shaped Gus S. Wortham Memorial Fountain will be converted into a European-style plaza with rows of trees.

Lighting will be placed throughout the park and art added in an area that passes under Memorial Drive. New walking trails will be created, and a 10-foot-wide bike route will be completed and paved over.

Bridges along the bayou will be illuminated with a blue glow at night, except for near the Waugh bridge bat colony, which will have red lights because bats are sensitive to blue, Hagstette said. The area near the colony largely will be untouched to avoid disturbing the bats, which should grow as an attraction once the park is completed.

Several gardens will be added to the park, and about 100 benches will be installed throughout.

Work on resculpting the bayou will be key in cutting down on sediment in the water, helping to reduce murkiness, which is standard for streams in Southeast Texas, Hagstette said.

Among other costs, a total of about $6 million will be spent on landscaping changes, $5 million on lighting, $4 million on two pedestrian bridges, $4 million on the development of Lost Lake, $5 million on Water Music Place and $5 million on trails.

zain.shauk@chron.com twitter.com/zainshauk