Board moves closer to naming new park, discusses plans for Old Post Office
By Christie Barlow
[email protected]
The Harrisburg Parks & Recreation board met Monday to address issues including naming the park on Stallings Road, use of the recreation fields on Sundays and the addition of a log cabin and miniature trains to the Old Post Office.
The board came one step closer to acquiring a permanent name for the park on Stallings Road.
Guidelines for naming the park were mailed out to residents about two and a half months ago and names have been submitted for consideration.
Among other names, suggestions for the park included, Stallings Road Park and Joshua Earley Park.
Residents were required to submit their reasons for each name, said Shawn Line, Harrisburg Parks & Recreation director. According to the applications, Stallings Road Park was suggested because it would clearly identify where the park was for visitors and would honor the Stallings family for helping develop much of Harrisburg.
Joshua Earley Park was suggested as a memorial to Earley, a firefighter who died from injuries he sustained while fighting a fire, according to the application submitted.
A public hearing to narrow down the names the board will suggest to Town Council will be held at next month’s Parks & Recreation board meeting, said Steve Sciascia, Town Council liaison to the Parks & Recreation board.
Construction of the park is on schedule and Line is hoping it will be completed in the fall, she said. An opening date for the park has not been scheduled.
In addition to discussion of the new park, the board considered a request to use Harrisburg’s recreation fields on Sundays.
Currently, the town doesn’t allow the use of its fields to groups or organizations on Sunday, allowing a day for families and kids to use them, Line said.
Members of the board talked about a possible change to this policy, allowing the town to rent the fields out occasionally on Sundays. No definite plans were made in this area, but the board discussed potentially allowing groups and organizations to use the fields two Sundays a quarter and imposing heftier fees, Sciascia said.
The board wrapped up its meeting with an update on plans to bring a log cabin and miniature train to the Old Post Office.
Plans to deliver the cabin are under way and it should be relocated to the Old Post Office shortly, Sciascia said.
Triad Live Steamers, the owners of the trains, were recently shut down at their current location, making materials the Harrisburg site would need to construct a track available to them. With the extra materials, the cost to attain the train tracks would decrease significantly from the original estimate of between $17,000 and $22,000, Sciascia said.
No decision has been made, but if an agreement is reached, it would require the town to provide the materials and land for the tracks, while Triad Live Steamers would provide the labor and replica trains.
The Town would dictate when the trains would run, and the cost of the ride would be a donation to the Triad Live Steamers, Sciascia said.
• Contact Christie Barlow at [email protected] or 704-789-9140.