Governor announces Industrial Development Fund grants for two ENC communities

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - Governor Roy Cooper announced today that the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority approved two grant requests to a pair of local ENC governments totaling $734,730.

The RIA said the requests include commitments to create new jobs. The Governor also said a public investment in these projects will attract millions in private investment.

“North Carolina’s rural communities are great places in which to live and raise a family, and by continuing to make these smart investments, we can create more good jobs there,” Governor Cooper said. “Improvements to buildings and water service will stimulate economic growth and investments that benefit our entire state.”

The two grants approved are being done through the Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account, which the RIA says provides grants to local governments located in the 80 most economically distressed counties of the state, classified as Tier 1 or Tier 2 counties.

In Pitt County, the RIA said a $300,000 grant will assist the County with the construction of a 13,500-linear-foot transmission water line from an existing elevated storage tank to the Ayden Rail Site, which will support current and future growth in the surrounding Ayden industrial district.

The RIA says the Ayden Rail Site is the largest certified industrial site (through the ElectriCities Smart Sites program) in Pitt County. These water infrastructure improvements are expected to benefit multiple ongoing economic development projects, attracting new jobs and private investment totaling at least $35 million.

In Nash County, the RIA says the Town of Spring Hope was approved for a 434,730 grant that town leaders there say will assist the Town with the construction of a 3,675-linear-foot extension of a water line in order to provide public water to the Bass Farm Sausage meat-packing facility.

The RIA also said this extension is also expected to allow the growth of additional commercial development in the area. The project supports an expansion at Bass Farm Sausage, in which the company is expected to create 40 jobs while investing $2.2 million.

The Governor also announced three additional grants under the state’s Building Reuse Program in Yadkin, Granville, and Vance Counties.