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Board approves new recreation master plan
MAGNOLIA- Gears are churning in the quaint Town of Magnolia, as local officials move forward with plans to develop a small business incubator.
According to Mayor Dawn Ward, a representative from the International Economic Development Council visited the Town of Magnolia on Jan. 22 and met with town and county leadership as well as James Sprunt Community College officials to help facilitate a plan to apply for grants.
Mayor Ward explained that the IEDC representative has been working with Town Manager Charles “Twig” Rollins on the next steps needed to move forward with this initiative.
Last year the town was awarded a grant to perform an environmental assessment on the building that will be re-purposed. The town has been working on bringing new businesses to Magnolia with the goal of restoring it to its thriving days.
“We’re trying to get it started and help revitalize our downtown,” said Mayor Ward. ”We’re really excited about it. Had some good meetings over the last couple of days.”
The mayor shared that another highlight for the month of January is that the Magnolia Board of Commissioners passed the recreation master plan, which will be implemented in stages starting with the gym, for which they have already secured the money. The rest of the plan would be done in stages as they secure additional grant funding.
“We’re moving forward with that,” said Mayor Ward, explaining that the next step is to apply for a North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) grant next month to go along with the grant the town won for the gym renovation. “We’re excited about that,” said Mayor Ward.
Rollins explained that the town has four acres of land where the old auditorium was located, and the recommendation was to build a multipurpose facility. He added that the town board chose BENESH Consulting to do their park and recreation master plan.
Among the recommendations for the current gym structure are to refurbish the roof, put in a new ceiling, replace all doors, put in air conditioning and heating, LED lighting, and add Wi-Fi technology.
Rollins added that they plan to reconfigure the area where they have the bleachers, so they would go on the long side, and re-stripe the floors for pickleball, shuffleboard, and other indoor games that folks and senior citizens could use,” said Rollins adding that they will also have technology so they can show movies or make presentations. “So that’s kind of what the plan is. We are waiting on the final rendition.”
Rollins told the Duplin Journal that they will be applying for grants and plan to work on phases as they secure funding to start implementing the master plan.
The new master plan has regulation soccer and football fields, a basketball court, a volleyball court, four recreational areas, a playground, bathroom, pickleball and horseshoes areas, and even an area to host outdoor concerts.
Rollins also spoke about a walking track that will go around the facility and a future dog park across Peterson Street.
“It’s a little area right now that just has swing sets, the recommendation of the recreation committee was to put a dog park there so people could walk their dogs and socialize,” said Rollins, adding that they have started the process of getting cost estimates for the features outside of the gym project.
Rollins shared they are excited about the master plan and the planned upgrades to the old gym.
“It gives our young people something to do. The gymnasium gives a place for our senior citizens to come, where they can do chair yoga, and they can do pickleball, which is the fastest growing sport in America. They can do shuffleboard and do all the things they enjoy… and they will have a heated, and air-conditioned space. We consulted with the Department of Aging here in the county about what they thought and those were the recommendations they came up with. “We’ll have something a little bit for everybody,” said Rollins. “We’re excited because it is really going to build up the community, and it is right there on 117. It is really going to increase the quality of life.”
