A little after noon on Memorial Day, Dave Hastings stood before the padlocked gate of what used to be the Fejervary Children’s Zoo with a box of model train engines in his hand.

Hastings, a train afficionado who has run the miniature railroad at the park on weekends for the last six years, was told the park would be open on the holiday, hopefully attracting families with the lure of a petting zoo, sensory garden and the chugging trains.

No one showed up to unlock the gate by 12:30 p.m., but there were some signs of life down at the petting zoo area, which has been operated under contract by Miller’s Petting Zoo of rural Geneseo, Ill., since the city of Davenport got out of the zoo business in 2008.

Parks Director Seve Ghose knows Fejervary has taken some publicity hits and currently lacks a coherent focus, but changes — most of which were recommended by a City Council-appointed task force in 2008 — are on the way. Parks and recreation staffers have generated a five-year plan they hope will once again make Fejervary a must-visit destination for families in Davenport and across the Quad-Cities.

“We do that by creating a campus,” he said. “We have the IMAX and natural history museum here, and we want kids and families to come here and spend three or four hours at a Fejervary site I think will be truly unique.”

The long-term plan calls for creating a “children’s center,” primarily focused on environmental education, on the nine-acre site just off Division Street a few blocks south of Locust Street. Features would include a Japanese garden modeled after a popular attraction in Rockford, Ill., an 18-hole themed miniature golf course, a tree garden with species from each of the 50 states, newly handicapped accessible pathways, living history murals, an interactive North American animal walk, more playground, gardening and water play areas and a renovated service building that will serve as an environmental library.

“The recommendations of the task force were pretty extensive, and we’re pretty much along the same lines,” Ghose said. “A few things we cannot fulfill because of cost issues and liability issues.”

Comments from visitors to the Fejervary Park area over the Memorial Day weekend suggest more than the old animal fences may need to be mended.

“There’s not enough hours, and I have never known the city to put any priority on Fejervary,” said Tom King, who lives in Aledo, Ill., but has visited the park on-and-off for more than 20 years. “They’re going to have to go whole-hog, 100 percent to get people to come back up here.”

Rosie Butler, who lives a few blocks away from Fejervary, was grilling out with her grandchildren in one of the park shelters Monday. She said she hasn’t taken the kids to the zoo since it went to farm animals only.

“They started closing things down and not opening it as much as they used to,” she said. “I didn’t even know if it was open today.”

Hastings, the train volunteer, said visitor numbers are still robust, but something was lost when the animals went away.

“I think they need to bring the animals back,” he said. “I know people who have been coming here for 30 years and they miss them.”

That is not going to happen, Ghose said.

“People still clamor for the old zoo and all the animals, but to run a zoo, particularly through a parks and recreation department, is just not feasible,” he said.

Miller’s has one more year on its petting zoo contract with the city.

“It’s a great little park. We’re seeing more attendance all the time,” said Kelly Rushing, one of Miller’s owners. She said they have not been part of the planning for the park’s makeover.

However, Ghose thinks the extensive, yet inexpensive, five-year plan — all of which can be done in house at a budget of about $250,000 — will restore luster to the hilltop park.

“Our main focus is on creating a natural playground,” he said. “The idea is to make the site a destination site.”