Peck Slip plaza, a half-acre lot of land along Front Street that for years has been employed as a makeshift municipal parking lot, tonight is likely to clear a hurdle on the journey toward becoming open park space, as Community Board 1 is expected to vote in favor of the city’s latest park redesign plan, according its chairman.

Some neighborhood preservationists, however, are fighting what they have termed the “cuteification” of a seaport that historically has been better known for fork trucks and fish bellies than for fashionable baby carriages and high-rent condos.

The seaport area, best known as the former home of the pungent Fulton Street Fish Market, has in the past six months seen the restoration of 11 landmark buildings along Front Street, as well as the rise of three new residential towers between Beekman Street and Peck Slip.

After the community board last month rejected a city plan for a park that was slated to look like a cobblestone plaza on the grounds that it lacked green space and recreational area, the Parks Department has come up with a new plan that has gained more traction among some area residents.

The stone plaza area has been scaled back to leave more space for a larger tree grove and planting area on the park’s west end. Also, the fountain has been moved to become more visible from the park’s entrance on Front Street.

Under the redesign, the Department of Transportation would also close the intersection of Front Street and Peck Slip to thru traffic to create more park space, and would maintain about 20 curbside parking spaces along Front Street.

“We think it’s a successful redesign,” Council Member Alan Gerson’s deputy chief of staff, Sayar Lonial, said. “The parking lot has been a shame, especially for a growing residential population.”

Some neighborhood residents disagree.

“Putting trees and flowers and benches in the middle of the space belies the historic authenticity of the space,” a co-director of the Seaport Community Coalition, Gary Fagin, said. “The historic open space should be treated with the same delicacy with which historic buildings are treated.”

“I feel strongly that the east side of the park should maintain its incredible design beauty of a stone surface,” a co-chairman of the preservation group Seaport Speaks, Lee Gruzen, said.

The redesign of park is expected to cost about $3 million. It is being funded by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, a Parks Department spokesman said. The little park is also part of a larger, $150 million city plan to renovate Manhattan’s entire waterfront along the East River.

The city’s Landmarks Commission is expected to vote on the park redesign on April 24.