Morganton stacking applications to fund park revitalization

The City of Morganton is stacking grant applications, piecing together a framework that it hopes will lead to a revitalized Catawba Meadows and Catawba River Soccer Complex, two parks that are costing the city hundreds of thousands each year in lost revenue.

The City of Morganton held its second public hearing on Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) fund applications for $15 million — the maximum amount available to request under this specific funding application.

The $15 million is part of a nearly $33 million price tag for the reconstruction of Catawba Meadows and the Catawba River Soccer Complex, both of which were severely damaged during Hurricane Helene.

Much of the reconstruction depends on FEMA funding, which reimburses the city for some or all of its eligible expenses. The city must first pay for the work, then seek reimbursement from FEMA.

However, total reimbursements aren’t yet known, so Morganton is looking to fill the gaps instead of taking a blind leap and funding the projects ahead of time.

“Should FEMA come back with a higher reimbursement than we think, we may adjust that later, but we wanted to go ahead and apply for that maximum amount while we had the opportunity,” explained Kyle Case, community & economic development manager of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments (WPCOG), at the Oct. 5 Morganton City Council meeting. “These are unusual and once-in-a-lifetime funds that we don’t typically see.”

On top of the $15 million, Case also discussed two separate $1 million grant applications for the Small Business Infrastructure Program (SmBIZ), directed toward restoring ballfield lights at Catawba Meadows and the soccer complex.

The SmBIZ program is a $55 million fund designed to rebuild damaged infrastructure that small businesses rely on to operate, and is administered by the Rural Economic Development Division.

Case later said, “These projects will directly benefit the businesses at the River Village, such as the Town Tavern, which are a short walk along the city’s greenway from either park.”

In 2023, the two parks had more than 700,000 visits from more than 200,000 unique visitors, according to Case.

“Visitation numbers for both parks have plummeted since the impacts of Hurricane Helene severely damaged both facilities,” he said, explaining that many of those visitors often stopped by local restaurants, retailers, and gas stations beforehand or afterwards. “These are the types of economic activities that are missing since the parks have been damaged and unable to host tournaments and events or even just day-to-day activity.”

According to Morganton City Manager Sally Sandy, that pans out to between $350,000 and 400,000 in annual revenue lost by the city alone through field rentals, tournaments, and the like.

One concern Sandy has with rebuilding after Helene is that locals don’t see the work going on behind the scenes with utilities.

“They see the parks, they don’t see the raw water pump station that has pumps not working at 100% capacity, that we’re still working through that process, as well,” Sandy said, comparing the utilities to a car not running on all cylinders.

“I know they’re frustrated. We are working through the process. The fact of the matter is that, for the parks, the dollars are too big for us to take a chance. It would put us in financial jeopardy, and that’s not an option.”

Instead, the city is “cobbling together” any grants that it can.

“We’ve always used grants,” she said, pointing past Helene to funding the city received before the storm. “We’re always in that business. We always look for funding opportunities that can match investments we’re making and make our dollar go further. Grants, you don’t pay back. That’s about the best kind of funding you can get.”

Sandy said that as far as recent progress or updates from FEMA, there have been no changes, aside from a team of FEMA personnel coming to town to tour facilities across the city that were affected by Helene.

FIXING THE DAM

The city council voted to award Fairview-based T.P. Howard’s Plumbing Co., Inc., a $285,500 contract for the Weir Abutment Repair Project, underbidding Locke-Lane Construction, Inc., by about $203,000.

An assessment in October 2024 documented damage from Hurricane Helene, specifically erosion damage to the weir abutment head wall, which created a sinkhole downstream.

A weir is a low-level dam built across a river to raise the water level upstream and control water flow.

The repairs will include fixing the weir gate and screen, including debris removal, gate replacement, and concrete structure repair to both the gate and the weir abutment head wall.

City staff has an additional 5% contingency fund, or $14,275.

FINANCING VEHICLES

The city plans to finance about $1.4 million toward the purchase of 12 new public safety and sanitation vehicles, spreading payments across 3- and 5-year terms through First National Bank, which the city selected on Monday evening.

The financing is expected to generate about $159,615.52 in interest costs over the life of the loan, according to city records, but the total amount financed is not to exceed $1,404,500.

Sandy said the purchases are part of annual necessary vehicle replacements, and that the vehicles are financed for half of their usable life.

“If we finance $1 million or more in value, then we get more banks that bid. It’s more competitive and we get better rates. So, we try to package them up amongst departments and across the city so that we can do that.”

The city plans to purchase the vehicles from a variety of dealerships based on best bids, and Morganton will pay the debt annually from general, cable, and wastewater funds.