PORTLAND, Maine (AP)   The National Endowment for the Arts plans to help pay for a public art project in a city square that was spared from development by a referendum.

Portland city officials say the city is recommended to receive $30,000 toward the Congress Square public art project. The city wanted to sell most of the half-acre Congress Square Park to a hotel owner but voters decided to protect it in 2014. Efforts to redesign the square have been going on since the referendum.

The city says the redesign of Congress Square is in the design development phase. The intersection near the square is slated to be reconfigured. An artist was selected in 2016 to create the public art installation that will be a feature of the redesigned park.