Park group gets grant to help with trails
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on September 9, 2007 2:09 AM
Goldsboro's Parks and Recreation Department is one step closer to having enough resources to complete plans to create a new park at Stoney Creek.
The department recently received notification that the city has qualified for the Recreation Trails grant, which will bring $32,744 to the project, new Parks and Recreation director Sonya Shaw said.
"We are excited about it, and the (Stoney Creek Park) Alliance is as well," Mrs. Shaw said.
Alliance member Sissy Lee-Elmore agreed.
"It's an opportunity to enhance the area that we already have," she said. "This is our first sizeable grant, and we're proud to get started."
The grant will provide three areas of distinction for the park including one mile of new trail, installation of two bridges and the purchase of three trail signs.
The trail will be made of crushed, natural products, said Mrs. Shaw, and the bridge placement is still under discussion.
"Right now it's being decided where the bridges will go," she said. "Initially, one bridge was over the creek and another over the wetlands."
The trail signs will most likely be access points from the streets, showing visitors where everything is located, Mrs. Shaw said.
The Parks and Recreation Department must match $11,025 of that grant, and she said she hopes others will jump in and help out.
"I'm meeting with members of the Stoney Creek Park Alliance to discuss where the funds are coming from," she said.
The grant was applied for "sometime last year," Mrs. Shaw added, and she, her department and the alliance are working hard to secure as much grant money as possible.
"This grant is definitely heading toward the direction of what we need," she said. "We will still be re-applying for the PARTF (Parks and Recreation Trust Fund) from the state in January, and for that, the cash match will come from the city."
Parks and Recreation received the last grant of $1,100 from Adopt-a-Trails early in August for benches for the park. That grant required no cash match.
Mrs. Shaw said that her department and the alliance will continue to search for funds for the project.
"Every little bit helps," she said.