Spencer invites community to complete survey through March 31
Community feedback on future parks and recreation projects continues with survey administered by ETC Institute
SPENCER – The Town of Spencer is continuing its public engagement efforts around future parks and recreation projects with a community survey, open now through the end of March. The survey is a follow up to a series of open house events held in January.
The main goal of the survey is to establish community priorities for the future parks and recreation facilities, programs, and services. The survey also seeks feedback on community pandemic impacts, and prioritization of eligible uses of federal ARP local fiscal recovery funds.
The survey is a component of the Town’s process to update its 2014 Parks and Recreation Master Plan and apply for grant funding to help make the vision of a restored central park at Salisbury Avenue and Fifth Street a reality.
For many years of its history, Spencer enjoyed a vast central park filling the block of Salisbury Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets and Yadkin Avenue. Redeveloped into the Park Plaza shopping center in the 1960s, the Town’s overall vision for the new Town Hall and Police Department includes restoring park space to the area. With the project funded by a USDA loan, the park was removed from the scope to bring the project within budget. A generous donation from Fred and Alice Stanback allowed the Town to get started on planning.
The Town is contracting with Benesch to develop the updated Parks and Recreation master plan, design a restored central Town park, and apply for PARTF funding. PARTF is the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, which awards matching funds to help local governments reach park and public access goals to improve the quality of life in their communities.
ETC Institute, an independent consulting company, will administer the survey and compile the results. In the next few days, each resident in Town will receive a unique survey in the mail and can reply with a provided postage-paid return envelope, or respond online at (survey no longer available). We ask that you complete the survey within a week of receiving the survey. All responses will remain confidential. For more information, contact Special Projects Planner Joe Morris at 704-633-2231 or at jmorris@spencernc.gov.