By Elisabeth Strillacci

SPENCER — The new town park in front of city hall was expected to be ready by early summer, but crews have worked so diligently that they are on track to complete the project by April.

“We’re four months in, and have about 10 weeks to go,” said Town Manager Peter Franzese. “There’s been very little down time. The crews have been working hard and the project team meets every two weeks, so it’s put us ahead of schedule. And that’s great because it means landscaping will be done in the spring instead of summer and people can begin to enjoy it that much sooner.”

The park is being constructed by Ike’s Construction of Concord.

Though there is not a planned opening day, Franzese said the town hopes, in the coming months, to begin looking for someone to oversee parks and recreation, and that person will be planning community events, such as musical performances, at the park.

In the last few weeks, the construction crews have worked on masonry and wood framing and are now working on roughing in electrical and water and sewer from the nearby taps and installing the recirculation tank for the water feature.

“Today (Monday), they were out digging in the driveway to run the electrical conduit so Duke Energy can come and run a line from the pole on the corner to the park,” said Franzese. The electrical will run through a pad-mounted transformer which Franzese said is “one of those green boxes you see on the ground.”

There was a park in the same spot once upon a time, and Special Projects Planner Joe Morris told the board of aldermen, when they decided to move forward with the construction contract, that for the first park, area churches all agreed to raise the money and do the planting.” The community, he said, had built the park once before, and could do it again.

In the budget for the park, some value engineering efforts brought the cost down to $2,175,700, but that still left the town more than $330,000 short, so the board of aldermen agreed to launch a capital fundraising campaign that Special Projects Director Joe Morris has been overseeing.

The town set a fundraising goal of $385,000 to allow for the purchase of some end-of-project items like furnishings for the park in addition to covering the difference. At present, the town has raised $20,000 but Franzese said there is money on the horizon.

“We’ve applied for several grants that are local in nature,” he said, “and between those and conversations we have had with potential donors, we feel we’re on a good path.” Anyone interested in contributing can visit the town’s webpage about the park at spencernc.gov/makeyourmark or they can stop by town hall and leave a check.

Meanwhile, the town is holding a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 6 to get public feedback and input on creating a parks and recreation advisory board. Any residents who wish to speak, or to hear what others are saying, can attend the public hearing in the board of aldermen meeting room at city hall.