Allegheny County officials have agreed to support a less expensive plan for dredging North Park Lake.

The $7.7 million reformulated proposal has a much better chance of being approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers than the $11 million to $12 million version considered last year, said Eugene W. Vaskov, the county's geotechnical manager. The original project would have removed all sediment from the lake.

Mr. Vaskov was one of several speakers on Sunday who provided an update on the long-planned lake clean-up. Venture Outdoors organized the "town hall" meeting, held on the deck of the North Park Boathouse, as part of its members day activities.

The 72-year-old lake was created in 1935 as part of the sprawling 3,000-acre park with which it shares a name. It originally covered about 75 acres and was 24 feet deep near the dam that holds back water from Pine Creek and the other streams that feed the lake. Silt has reduced its surface area to around 60 acres and cut its maximum depth in half.

Restoration work originally began in 1980 but was halted when officials found that new sediment was flowing into the lake faster than it was being removed. Planning for the current project, using new technologies, began about 7 years ago.

The revised $7.7 million restoration project would be supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers and would be supported by a $5 million grant, available under Section 206 of the 1996 federal Water Resources Development Act. Allegheny County has agreed to provide about $2.7 million in matching funds.

The county had agreed to provide additional money to bring the budget up to as much as $12 million, but plans for a larger project had become stalled in Washington, Mr. Vaskov said.

Plans for a less ambitious project are to be resubmitted next month. If approved by year's end, dredging work could begin by the end of 2008 or early 2009.

Federal approval of the revised proposal does not rule out the county enlarging the scope of the work later, officials said. If that were to occur, it would remain the county's obligation to provide additional funds for an expanded project, Mr. Vaskov said.

Restoration of North Park Lake is long overdue, said U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless. He said he and other elected officials would strive to make sure that disruption to park activities is kept to a minimum during the two-year dredging project.

North Park, which extends into McCandless, Hampton and Pine, is in Altmire's 4th Congressional District.

"A lot of things are happening in this park," county Parks Director Andrew Baechle said. "Stay tuned for more."

Bids will be sought this month for a separate $1 million project to repair and renovate the dam that forms the lake and to restore the pond at the nearby Latodami Nature Center on Brown Road, he said. That work will get under way in the fall.

The state Fish and Boat Commission has provided funds to build a new boat ramp at the lake, he said.

The biggest change that North Park users will see will be the eventual relocation of portions of the biking-walking trail that runs around the lake. Portions of it will be moved closer to the water and away from Babcock Boulevard and Ingomar Road, he said.

Responding to a question from the audience about measures to reduce the amount of silt that flows into the lake in the future, Mr. Baechle described several steps to be taken.

The county is working with the Allegheny Land Trust to create new wetlands along Irwin Run, one of the streams that feeds the lake. Those wetlands would slow the flow of water and collect sediment that otherwise would end up in the lake.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has agreed to create similar wetlands on two of its properties along Pine Creek. Those costs were estimated last year to be about $500,000 and the commission will pay for that project.

People attending Sunday's town hall could see and hear people rowing, fishing and kayaking on North Park Lake.

"Listen to those kids in the background," said Erik Lingren, executive director of Venture Outdoors. "They're having fun, and that's the real reason we are here."

Venture Outdoors, based in Downtown Pittsburgh, is a nonprofit agency that seeks to encourage participation in outdoor activities. Its members day activities drew about 200 additional people to join the hundreds of others who regularly come to North Park on weekends.