LAURINBURG — Several thousand dollars will be coming to the city of Laurinburg after the dog park project was chosen as a recipient of a T-Mobile grant.
Laurinburg is one of 25 towns winning the Hometown Grant, which is set to help begin vital community development projects. The grant is for $48,500.
“These incredible projects spark innovation, ingenuity and hard work that have always been the hallmark of our nation’s small towns,” said Executive Vice President of Consumer Group at T-Mobile Jon Freier. “From beautifying historic Main Streets to building all-new retail spaces, pop-ups and parks … this is part of our commitment to rural America, and we can’t wait to see all these creative plans come to life.”
The location of the dog park is on U.S. 15/501 heading near Scotland High and by Pinewood Park Apartments. The city had budgeted $40,000 in its 2021-22 budget for the project and the Scotland County Tourism Development Authority had given $3,000.
“This grant really helps open up the possibilities with the dog park,” said Community Development Director Michael Mandeville. “The area we’re using used to be a city park but it’s been closed for some time. So there’s a lot of undergrowth that we’re having to go in and remove, but we are keeping a lot of the trees. Once it is cleared out you will be able to see the park from the road but we will have signage around to help people find the location as well.”
The park is set to have two fenced-in dog areas, one for large dogs and one for small dogs. The area would also include a dog foundation, benches, trash cans and bags to pick up dog waste.
“This extra money will allow us to put up higher fences which is the next step for the project,” Mandeville said. “We’re also hoping to be able to put picnic tables in now so that people can get food in town and be able to sit here to eat … but we haven’t had a sit down just yet about what exactly we’ll be using this money for but it’s really going to help this project.”
To celebrate the grant T-Mobile will be hosting a check presentation and celebratory event on Wednesday with food trucks, music, games and giveaways from noon until 2 p.m. at the T-Mobile store.
The T-Mobile store is located at 1692 S. Main St. in Laurinburg.
Reach Katelin Gandee at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.