By Elisabeth Strillacci and Chandler Inions

SPENCER — The town has received $500,000 in a grant from the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to move forward with the creation of a park in front of the current city hall.

For six decades, the city had a central park that stretched over the entire 400 block of South Salisbury Avenue, according to Special Projects Manager Joe Morris. The property was sold by Southern Railroad in the mid 1960s and it became the shopping plaza with a grocery store that the city then recreated as city hall and the police department.

The city applied for the same grant through the trust fund last year but was turned down. However, Morris said the staff of the trust fund was “very helpful in working with all the towns that were turned down in terms of showing us what we could improve, so this year I felt fairly confident.”

One of the biggest changes the town made this year was creating a comprehensive recreation plan, which came about through “a very generous donation” from Fred Stanback that “seeded the overall project,” said Morris.

The cost of the park project submitted to the state was estimated at $1.7 million but Morris said he expects that will rise, however slightly.

“I believe we may try to do some additional work with lighting and tree planting in the rest of the parking lot,” he said. “It will likely be a matter of saying ‘if we are already doing this, we should go ahead and do that and do it right.” He said he estimates the cost will likely be between the $1.7 million and $2.3 million.

Morris was at the Raleigh meeting of the trust fund board last Friday when the project was approved, and though he said he was confident, he still wasn’t sure how much of the request would be funded.

At the beginning of day, the board read the projects in order of ranking by staff, and Spencer was in top 15. “Then the full board ranked the projects and we came in eighth. But I didn’t know how much funding we were going to get.” When he heard that the city’s full request of $500,000 had been granted, “at that moment I was ecstatic,” Morris said.

There are long-time residents, Morris said, who can remember playing baseball in the original park, and part of the folklore of the city, which may or may not be true, is that at one time, several fellows put an alligator in the pond that was on the site.

“I don’t know who put it there, but from what I understand it may have been some railroad employees who put it in the pond during warmer weather, then brought it to overwinter in the railroad shop where there would have been heat and water,” Morris said. There are no plans for an alligator in the new park.

Spencer was not the only Rowan County community to receive grant funds from the trust fund. China Grove, also among the recipients, was awarded $302,500 as part of the announcement.

The allocation of funding for China Grove means that a significant redevelopment of Community Memorial Park can get underway.

“This is our first phase of the project,” China Grove Town Manager Franklin Gover said. “We divided up the total project into three phases just in terms of construction ability and affordability.”

The entire park redesign carries a price tag of approximately $1.6 million.

“(Phase one) is kind of that first step where we are preparing utilities, the ground and setting the stage for future improvements,” Gover said.

Phase one will include improvements to convert the field into a multi-purpose area, as well as the construction of a large shelter for feature events.

“We have concepts but not a confirmed design on (the shelter),” Gover said. “It’s more than just a picnic shelter. It will be something with some character that is a little unique.”

Much of phase one will see enhancements to the park’s walking-path network, landscaping and seeding.

“There are going to be a lot of improvements in this first phase that are in the ground or on the ground, but it is setting the stage for the future phases,” Gover said.

Future development at Community Memorial Park will depend on various funding sources. Gover said they would continue to apply for grants that fit the town’s needs.

On Wednesday, Gov. Roy Cooper announced a total of $8.5 million in grants to fund 19 local parks and recreation projects across the state. The Parks and Recreation Authority approved the grant recipient Aug. 11.

“Getting outdoors to enjoy parks and greenspaces improves people’s health and quality of life, and these grants will help towns and counties to provide recreation for their communities,” Cooper said. “These investments can help revitalize our communities, boost local economies and promote tourism.”

The local communities applied for the grants to fund land acquisition, development and renovation of public park and recreation areas. Every year, the Parks and Recreation Authority allocates 30 percent of PARTF’s total funding to local municipalities and counties. A maximum of $500,000 can be awarded to a single project, and the awardees must match funds dollar-for-dollar for the grant amount. This year, the authority considered 52 grant applications requesting a total of more than $21 million.

“Congratulations to the communities that received grants to create and expand their park facilities,” said N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary D. Reid Wilson. “Robust local outdoor recreation opportunities, in addition to our state and national parks, have helped North Carolina become the Great Trails State, and we look forward to seeing the outcome of these projects.”

“Since 1995, the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund has helped give local governments the ability to build new parks and improve facilities,” said Brian Strong, director of the Division of Parks and Recreation. “These investments have a widespread impact in creating more places to conserve, to recreate and to learn about nature and the outdoors.”

The Parks and Recreation Trust Fund is administered through the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation and allocated by the state budget. Local grants are awarded annually by the Authority at its quarterly meeting in August.