The city officially will dedicate Salvatore M. Mione Park this weekend on a swath of land along New Church Street where a series of homes were razed as part of a flood protection project.

During City Council’s combined pre-conference and regular meeting on Monday night, Council President Rodney Farrar announced that a dedication ceremony will take place at the park site on Saturday at 11 a.m.

The new park, named after a former city councilman who died in 2017, is the first dedicated in the city since 2009, when Myron Ross Park opened on Essex Street.

Mione Park is a passive park created out of a state program to acquire homes and raze them as part of flood mitigation efforts. The state’s Blue Acres program funds acquisition of the homes and the municipality is responsible for demolition and ultimately maintenance of the existing land. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Blue Acres program recently reached a milestone, acquiring its 700th home.

About nine homes were bought and demolished along New Church Street in 2017, amid about 30 properties within the city in all. Later that year, City Council approved a resolution to dedicate the New Church Street land as Salvatore M. Mione Park.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Mione lived on New Church Street since 1973.

Mione died in 2017 at the age of 70. He served on City Council for 24 years, first elected in 1990 with the late Nancy Saliga and current Councilman James Baker as at-large candidates, on a ticket that included former mayor and now Assemblyman James Kennedy. The foursome was re-elected together through 2006.

Kennedy didn’t seek re-election in 2010 at which point Mione and the other at-large council members were re-elected to a sixth four-year term with Rick Proctor. Mione also was a longtime member of the Planning Board and served as chairman of the city’s Sept. 11 committee.