Grants
preserve
sewer
projects

By NICOLE CARTRETTE

Four miles.

It’s a short distance.

But it’s costly when it comes to installing water and sewer lines.

Bolton and Tabor City sewer projects, otherwise impossible for the municipalities to fund, are one step closer to construction, thanks to N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund grants. While the towns rejoice over awards totaling more than $2.5 million, the outcome of Whiteville’s grant application is nothing to celebrate.

Whiteville will have to look elsewhere for funds to fix storm water drainage problems or re-submit its application in December. A $4 million request for a storm water wetland project at Soules Swamp to halt flooding was denied.

Tabor City’s $420,000 award makes sewer service to the 1,000-bed state prison now under construction possible. Tabor City’s wastewater treatment plant, in the planning stages of a $3 million renovation funded by a grant from 2003, was not yet prepared to handle the sewage from the new prison, Town Manager Al Leonard said.

“This would have stopped the prison operation dead in its tracks,” Sen. R.C. Soles said.
The award is “one of the latest milestones” in a county and town partnership that brought the state prison to Columbus County. “There were 99 counties out there that wanted those 400 jobs the prison will create,” Leonard said, adding that the inability to get the sewer service in place would have been embarrassing.

Sewer lines will run approximately four miles from the facility, down N.C. 904 and tie into Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority’s system at the South Carolina border along highway N.C. 410 in Horry County. The town struck an agreement with GSWSA a few years ago to provide service at a fee per gallon that can be billed to the state. The anticipated completion date is May 2007.

Bolton won close to $2 million for a $5 million sewer infrastructure project to service more than 280 homes. “This is going to mean a lot to the town of Bolton,” Rep. Dewey Hill said.

Mayor Frank Wilson said construction would not be possible without the grant. Bolton’s growth has been hindered because of land that would not perk. He said the town lost one subdivision because of this.

“Any town that expects to grow needs a sewer infrastructure,” Wilson said, adding that sewer service would boost property values and the tax base.

The town previously won a $2.7 million grant from the N.C. Rural Center. That grant, combined with the CWMTF grant and $300,000 in state loans, enacts plans discussed for more than four years, said Tyndall Lewis, vice president of McDavid and Associates.

The Goldsboro engineering firm expects the bid process to begin within 90 days. The Bolton sewer system will pump waste to a pump station in Hallsboro and finally to the Whiteville wastewater treatment plant. Lewis said construction may be complete within a year.

Early in the award process, Whiteville’s project scored a low 81 and eligibility was reduced to $3 million. Officials were hopeful the grant would come through despite the low score, as did the Tabor City project that originally had one of the lowest scores of 70.

Robert Howard, chairman of the CWMTF board and a Whiteville Realtor, said that with some revision Whiteville’s grant application stands a better chance for funding in the next cycle. “I thought going into the meeting we had a good chance,” Howard said. In the end, tough competition and projects with scores as high as 124 pushed Whiteville’s request to the back of the line. Howard said he intends to encourage Whiteville Mayor Dial Gray to submit a new application.

“I personally recognize the need and want to do everything I can to help the city,” Howard said. Many criteria set by the legislature are used in the grant selection process. He explained that while the Tabor City project had a low score originally, it was something that “absolutely needed to be done.” In comparison to multi-million dollar projects, the $420,000 award was relatively small, he pointed out.

In June, the CWMTF board published scores for more than 100 applications under consideration. At that time the Tabor City application had the lowest score. “We knew when the scores came in we needed some help,” Leonard said. “We are appreciative of Mr. Soles and Mr. Hill going the extra mile for us in Raleigh.”

The CWMTF board considered funding for 100 eligible projects totaling $152.5 million for water quality projects across the state.

The CWMTF was created in 1996. The board has awarded water quality project and land acquisition grants totaling more than $600 million since its inception.

Columbus County projects have received more than $15 million in funding since 1996, according to CWMTF data. Only 11 counties have won more grant funds through the agency. Two of those counties are Brunswick with more than $22 million and Pender with more than $16 million.