GRANITE QUARRY — The town of Granite Quarry has put a lot of work into its outdoors presence. That effort is close to coming to fruition, as the town is close to implementing a new master plan for the Granite Civic Park, creating more walkable routes between all the town’s parks, wayfinding signs and more.

When the town approved its Downtown Master Plan in 2015, the documents included some comments from citizens that had been taken throughout the process. Some of the comments included the nice parks in the town being a favorite, people wanting the town to hold more and better promote events and music in the parks and people pointing to the town’s green spaces as large draws. When the team handling the plan drafted a community vision statement based on citizen’s input, the parks were featured prominently.

“Granite Quarry is a quiet, small Carolina town with a safe, family-friendly atmosphere. It is a place where residents enjoy a high quality of life with nice parks, good schools, and a convenient location with access to larger markets,” reads the first paragraph of the statement.

Recently, the town has taken that plan and expanded upon it, including working on a plan for a complete overhaul of Granite Civic Park, located at the corner of North Oak and West Peeler streets. Representatives from Stewart, the planning company handling the plan for the town, presented at the board of aldermen’s planning retreat on Feb. 22. 

The representatives presented two options to the board. Elements included in the two plans were a dog park, splash pad, dedicated amphitheater space, a food truck area and more. The town is hosting community forums and an online survey to bring in as much community feedback and participation as possible. Stewart had received 147 responses to the online survey by the Feb. 22 meeting. 

Acting Town Manager and Public Works Director Jason Hord and Mayor Brittany Barnhardt said that they had heard glowing reviews from members of the community about a meeting Stewart had run. Hord read a letter that had been addressed to the town, thanking town and Stewart employees.

“To the individuals who ran the park feedback meeting, thank you. Thank you so much for a warm welcome, especially for my kids. They were so nervous that a bunch of grown-ups would not want them there or hear their opinions. They are used to adults not truly listening, but they came away laughing because they said the meeting was so great. Thanks for helping me raise involved and informed citizens,” read the letter.

Barnhardt said that she had spoken to some children at the community meeting and that one had wanted separate playgrounds for older and younger kids. She also said that she was appreciative and excited about the amount of engagement the town had received so far on the plan.

‘When you get to this portion of the plan, people get really excited because they’re seeing that vision come to life. With the fluff leading up to this, it’s hard to encourage engagement. With us being a small community, I think it’s very fortunate the amount of engagement we’ve had. That is really exciting,” Barnhardt said during the meeting.

The town also recently approved an agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation that would allow the town to build sidewalks between all three of its parks. The sidewalk connector project would create walkable paths between Granite Civic Park, Granite Lake Park and the Centennial Park trailhead.

“This has been something of a vision project. It’s consistent with what we saw going forward, that it would fit our vision to connect the parks and that it fits our vision to follow these plans and do something about them,” Shelton said in the meeting when the agreement was approved.

Shelton also said that a recent NCDOT project on Bank Street had actually left the town with a little less walkability after removing the railroad crossing. This project, he noted, should help solve some of that issue and even improve upon it.

If completed, the sidewalk connector is the first project from the town’s Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan that will come to fruition. The plan, adopted in May of 2023, also calls for bike lanes along all major roads and another expansion to the sidewalk connectors that would add on pathways to attractions such as the Old Stone House and connect different neighborhoods.

The town held community surveys and meetings as part of that planning process as well. One of the questions was which parts of the town were most important to increase mobility and access to. The three areas that participants chose the most often were the same three parks that the town is working to connect now.

The town is also working on more outdoor improvements that could come to fruition in the near future. Hord said that he is coordinating with Healthy Rowan to create park mapping and signage that would be related to fitness and health. Barnhardt has said that she is excited about wayfinding signs that the town has on the way that would point to attractions and landmarks. By the end of the next few years, the town’s outdoor presence could look very different.