Golden Leaf grant adds $1.5 million to airport sewer project

Through a recently awarded grant, Caldwell County took another step toward the development of sewer infrastructure in the Foothills Regional Airport Industrial Park — a project that could ultimately lead to the creation of nearly 4,000 jobs and more than $1.4 billion in economic activity.

As part of the SITE program, the Golden Leaf Foundation announced the awarding of $1.5 million to Caldwell County for the Foothills Regional Airport Industrial Park sewer project. The project includes the extension of sewer lines from Lenoir to the land surrounding the airport, which straddles the Burke-Caldwell county line.

The Golden Leaf Foundation is a nonprofit, established in 1999 to receive and distribute North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. The foundation provides economic assistance in the state’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities through grants and collaboration.

The $1.5 million was the final piece of the puzzle for the county’s 20% match to a federal grant request — with the $2,462,010 match comprised partly by the Golden Leaf funding, partly by the county at $252,502, and partly by funding from the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Rural Infrastructure Authority, which in June awarded the county $709,508.

The $252,502 from the county is already stocked in a sales tax reinvestment fund — a money pot supported by the local governments in the county.

“Those are really intended to be match dollars,” said Ashley Bolick, Caldwell County’s economic development director, explaining that the grants are contingent on the acquisition of nearly $9.85 million in federal funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). “If we don’t get the larger grant, then we’ll have to reevaluate our plan to see if we can make the project happen without federal dollars.”

The total budget for the project is just over $12.3 million.

“Many projects that we work with look for sites that have utilities in place, and not having sewer infrastructure at the airport has limited our competitiveness for projects,” Bolick said. “It would have been done already if it was an easy lift, if the funds were readily available. And they’re not. It’s a long way, it’s almost 5 miles.”

Bolick confirmed there have been multiple interested parties that have discussed setting up at the industrial park, but ultimately chose to go elsewhere.

FUNDING AND TIMELINE

The county submitted an application for the federal grant in April, and according to Bolick, the liaison between the feds and the local government told her the EDA is reviewing applications in batches.

The earliest Bolick expects to hear an update on the federal funding is in September or October.

Burke, Caldwell, Morganton, and Lenoir are all invested in the project, and tax revenues from the airport — such as from fuel sales and hangar spaces — go back into the budgets of all four jurisdictions.

According to the economic-impact study, the first phase of sewer development, which would run from Lenoir to the Morganton side of the 1,000-acre park, would generate $119 million and create about 380 jobs. Once the entire project is finished, the industrial park could draw an additional $1.4 billion in output and nearly 4,000 jobs.

Should the county receive the funding, it will start the process of developing full engineering reports and laying the groundwork for the project.

The sewer installation project will take approximately 35 months to complete, meaning that if the EDA grant is approved this fall, the airport industrial park would be ready for businesses to develop by late 2029.