Foothills airport grant could mean jobs, economic growth

The Foothills Regional Airport Industrial Park took another step toward expansion last week when the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority announced it was awarding Caldwell County a $709,500 grant, and county officials say the project could potentially unlock more than half a billion dollars in economic output and create nearly 2,200 jobs from construction impacts alone.

The grant will support the development of sewer infrastructure extending from the city of Lenoir to the airport that sits on the Burke-Caldwell county line. Although Caldwell helmed the grant application process, representatives from both counties view it as a regional win.

“Mainly, we’re looking at the creation of jobs,” said Johnnie Carswell, a former Burke County commissioner and current member of the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA).

Carswell represents Burke County on the 17-member Rural Infrastructure Authority, a board appointed under the N.C. Department of Commerce to review and award grants to local governments in rural and economically distressed areas.

“It will be an economic boom for two Tier 1 counties, plus, counties that are still recovering from Helene,” he said. “All of those factors weighed into the decision for Commerce staff to make the decision.”

Each year, the state ranks counties across three tiers, or levels of economic disparity, with Tier 1 consisting of the 40 most distressed counties and Tier 3 being the 20 least distressed.

When asked what holds the region back from the “economic boom,” Carswell said, “It’s infrastructure. We don’t have the buildings. … In the same vein, we need to make sure we have sewer and water capacity for those when they come in.”

Ashley Bolick, Caldwell County economic developer, explained that the site isn’t as large as the Great Meadows megasite at the western edge of Burke, but that whatever comes to Great Meadows will need suppliers, and she expects those to opt for the Foothills Regional Airport Industrial Park.

The sewer project would roll out in two phases: the West Campus, phase 1 on the Burke/Morganton side, and the East Campus, phase 2 on the Caldwell/Lenoir side. The sewers will run from Lenoir to the Burke County portion of the 1,000-acre industrial park during the first phase.

According to Bolick, Burke, Caldwell, and both county seats are invested in the project, and tax revenues from the airport — fuel sales, hangar spaces, and eventually industry — go back into the budgets of the jurisdictions.

The projected impact after the first phase is $119 million in economic activity and the creation of 380 jobs. Once the entire project is finished, those numbers could draw an additional $1.4 billion in output and nearly 4,000 jobs.

BURKE AND CALDWELL FINANCIALS

Both Burke and Caldwell were designated as Tier 1 counties in late November 2025. While Caldwell’s status was unchanged, Burke had previously scraped its way up to a Tier 2 ranking before slipping back down last year.

Although the $709,500 grant is only a piece of the overall $12 million price tag, it carries the larger portion of a local match required of Caldwell County for further federal grants.

“When you do a federal EDA (Economic Development Administration) grant, typically it’s a 50-50 match,” Bolick said. “Because this EDA grant is tied to disaster recovery, it was only a 20% match, which means that out of the $12 million total project, we only had to come up with $2.4 million.”

Along with the RIA grant, Caldwell County also applied for a Golden Leaf grant and plans to put up a local match of $236,503. While the Golden Leaf grant for $1.5 million isn’t guaranteed, Bolick said a site visit is scheduled for July 2, which she hopes is a good sign.