Town of Boiling Springs receives grant to create gathering space
The town of Boiling Springs was recently awarded a rural transformation grant which will be used to enhance its downtown area.
The $195,000 grant from North Carolina Commerce will be used to create a gathering space for residents.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced that 29 local governments in rural areas across the state were awarded grants from the Rural Transformation Grant Fund, a course of support for rural economic development projects. Funds were awarded in four different categories: downtown revitalization, resilient neighborhoods, community enhancements and rural community capacity.
“These economic development grants will bring new vitality to many rural communities,” said Kenny Flowers, the Commerce Department’s assistant secretary for Rural Economic Development. “I look forward to working with these communities as we work to transform the economy in rural North Carolina.”
A total of $8 million will be issued in this third round of grantmaking from the fund, which helps local governments overcome challenges that limit their economic competitiveness.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce and its Rural Economic Development Division administers the fund.
“These transformative grants can make a real difference in rural communities by reviving downtowns and strengthening neighborhoods,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “These funds, with the support of our rural development team at the Department of Commerce, will bring more economic opportunity to people across the state.”
Town Manager Justin Longino said Boiling Springs staff have been working on a streetscape project, which included making it safer for pedestrians, widening sidewalks and more on south main street and out of that process, they came up with the idea to create an area downtown where people could gather. The grant will help make that happen. He said it would be a space for outdoor dining, concerts and more.
Longino said it wouldn’t take away from current parking but would rearrange the downtown area.
“The courtyard is going to be in the parking lot downtown, but it's not going to affect the parking,” he said. “The idea is to just rearrange the parking. It's not going to take away parking from downtown businesses.”
Longino said they plan to have a public art piece in the middle of the courtyard.
“The preliminary idea is to have some sort of tie-in with Earl Scruggs and maybe even have a design contest so a local artist could help us fill that space,” he said.
The grant, which is reimbursable, would cover the majority of the project, and the town is currently working through a final agreement. Town leaders recently met with stakeholders downtown and solicited feedback.
“Now we're perfecting that and getting everything ready to bid out,” Longino said. “Hopefully we’ll have the construction documents ready in 60 days and bid out for 60 days. We hope to move it along.”
He said they are aiming for a spring completion date.
“This is the result of a conversation that the council had with the community a couple years ago that established the big downtown master plan we had,” Longino said.
The town is also working to develop a land use plan in the next few months in addition to a downtown plan and a park master plan.
“One other thing we’re doing in conjunction with the courtyard is we got a grant for Wi-Fi downtown. We’ll be adding Wi-Fi that folks can access from businesses and the courtyard and extend to the park as well,” Longino said. “That should be available in the next two months. We have a request for bids out now. It should be a pretty quick implementation.”
The Wi-Fi was made possible through a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Town of Boiling Springs receives grant for new gathering space
