GRANITE QUARRY — Granite Quarry is considering adding a gate to fence in its equipment storage area at Granite Lake Park, but pushed the issue back on Monday.

Then town’s FEMA project at the park installed a new black chain fence along the creek line and the proposal would take advantage of the new fence by adding matching fencing to close in the storage space. The new installation would add a 14-foot double gate with a code lock.

Public Works and Fire Chief Jason Hord told the board he was originally planning to include a request for the the project in the upcoming budget, but has recently received more reports of suspicious people walking around the area.

Everything on site is locked and lit, but Hord said he is concerned about someone attempting to get to the equipment and noted more people are exploring the park because of the project. Currently the town stores surplus office equipment, some landscaping supplies and equipment at the site.

Hord said the gate would create more deterrent to people walking in the area and reduce the town’s risk.

The cost estimate on the project totaled $6,500 in a quote from Salisbury Fencing Company. Horde said because the department has saved some money this year it would probably not require the full $7,000 amount in the budget amendment.

Alderman Kim Cress asked if some of the equipment could be moved elsewhere and expressed sticker shock at the price of a small section of fence and a gate.

Mayor Brittany Barnhardt said her only hesitation is funding the project and then doing something different a year or two later and said the town needs to educate the community about who to call if they see something suspicious.

Mayor Pro Tem John Linker suggested pushing back consideration of the gate because of the pending approval of the town’s master parks plan.

“Not that we don’t want to do it necessarily,” Linker said.

In other agenda items:

• The board opted to push back final review of the new Parks and Recreation Master Plan so it can be discussed at length during a retreat session.

• The board discussed creating a new lease agreement for the old American Legion Building with the town’s Civitan Club in closed session. Two Civitan members attended the meeting and shared concerns about support from the town and the cost to the club to use the building three times per month for meetings. The town did not have a new agreement ready at the end of the meeting.

• The board approved an amendment to the town fence standards ordinance.

The amendment removed a sentence from the ordinance requiring a fence set back of at least 3 feet from property lines so the fence could be maintained without stepping onto someone else’s property and replaced it with the following: “Fence must be located on the owner’s property. If landscaping is located outside the fence, the landscaping must be located on owner’s property and the fence set back into owner’s property to accommodate landscape maintenance without trespassing onto neighboring property.”

The board opened a public hearing and there were no comments on the issue. There was no board discussion before approving the change.

• The board directed the town clerk to investigate the annexation of the property at 817 North Salisbury Avenue. A petition to annex the 16.8-acre property into the town was submitted by Wallace Realty.

• The board designated Town Clerk Aubrey Smith as the voting delegate for the electronic process to select the board of directors for the North Carolina League of Municipalities.