BY MILES LAYTON
Edenton Town Council approved a resolution to submit a state grant application to pursue Project Teapot during a special meeting Monday morning in Council Chambers.
If everything goes as planned with approval for $425,000 in grant funding, Project Teapot will generate 61 new jobs within three years.
The resolution is the first step toward attracting jobs and renovating downtown property at 211 S. Broad St., the old Sears building.
“This is the first step and hopefully this project will bring 61 jobs within year one so we’re very, very excited about that,” Mayor Hackney High said.
Town Manager Corey Gooden added, “The State grants are a piece of the funding required to make Project Teapot a success.”
The grant application will be filed with the state Department of Commerce’s Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA), which provides grants through the Vacant Building Reuse Program to local governments to assist with building improvements to real property that will lead to the direct creation of new, full-time, private sector jobs. High said Town Hall may receive word about whether the grant application was approved as early as February. The program requires a 5 percent cash match equal to the grant request amount.
“What makes us unique is the fact that it is an opportunity for a completely new business versus typical building reuse, which we’ve only done historically with our existing businesses as they run,” High said.
High said due to confidentiality concerns that come from the Governor’s Office, Town Hall can’t release any specifics about Project Teapot’s plans or the kind of jobs that may be coming to the area if the grant funding is approved.
“We’re waiting on the bigger pieces of the pie that require confidentiality,” High said. “And if there’s any public discussion of the specifics of the project, then the bigger grant piece goes away, and that’s just how they are.”
According to the state Rural Grant’s Vacant Building Reuse Program, grants are available to support the renovation and/or upfit of vacant buildings. Buildings must be vacant for at least three months prior to application deadlines. Eligible costs include, but are not limited to HVAC, electrical, plumbing, roofing, carpentry, drywall, paint, etc. within the existing footprint of the building.
Eligible applicants are units of local government located in Tier 1 or Tier 2 counties, or within a rural census tract in a Tier 3 county. Chowan is a Tier 2 county.
The potential funding available for each project will be assessed through analysis of the project and will be based upon the project’s location, the quantity and quality of jobs committed, and the project’s overall economic impact, at the discretion of the RIA, according to the state Department of Commerce.
Last word, per Town Council’s resolution:
“Therefore, be it resolved by the Town Council of the Town of Edenton that the Town of Edenton will provide administration and oversight of the grant request if approved for the grant that the mayor is hereby authorized to execute and file an application on behalf of the Town of Edenton with the North Carolina Department of Commerce for a grant to assist in the construction of the project described above,” Mayor High read from the resolution. “That the Town Manager is hereby authorized and directed to furnish such information as the North Carolina Department Commerce may request in connection with the application or the project.”
