Future of Franklin Square Park discussed during joint meeting in Southport

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — The future of Franklin Square Park was discussed during a joint meeting of the Southport Board of Aldermen and the city’s Parks and Recreation committee on Wednesday night.

Earlier this year, the park had been closed due to concerns about dead or diseased trees.

Heather Hemphill is the director of the city’s Parks and Recreation department.

She said some people want the park to continue being used for events, while others would prefer it be used as a space to enjoy nature.

“A huge division in the city of some people want it to go back like it was many years ago, where there’s direct pathways that you can walk on,” Hemphill said. “And then there’s the group that you know, wants the events to go back in there and bring people out to enjoy the park.”

Doctor James Herstine gave the presentation, which included options such as tearing down the park’s stage and building a new one in another location or repairing it.

He feels the town should go with the compromise that everyone will like.

“Less is more in this case as that, let’s just fix up the stage that’s there and let’s get some of the activities out of there that some people found to be less than desirable to be in there, but let’s hold all the other types of individual and community gatherings,” Herstine said.

Herstine will give a full 200+ page report to the Parks and Recreations Department sometime within the next several days.

The Board of Aldermen has told Parks and Recreations to take their time looking over the report.

An exact timeline for when any project would start isn’t known at this time.