Warren County was recently awarded $42,500 from the Golden LEAF Foundation that will be used for the county’s Hwy 1 Industrial Site.
The Warren County grant is one of 10 projects totaling more than $4.4 million in grant funds.
“The need for industrial sites, especially in rural areas, is no longer a luxury but a necessity to meet demand,” said Ralph Strayhorn, Golden LEAF Board Chair. “We are excited to see how these projects will help prepare counties for new and expanding companies in North Carolina.”
Warren County Community and Economic Development Director Charla Duncan said the award will fund due diligence documentation used in marketing the site and recruiting interested companies. Due diligence includes completing a threatened and endangered species report; an initial historical, archaeological & cultural resource review; and a buildable area summary map, among other tasks.
“Having due diligence documentation in-hand increases our site competitiveness because it cuts down on the length of time a business needs to determine if a location is suitable for their company,” explained Duncan. “We are thankful to Golden LEAF for awarding us the funding to increase our Hwy 1 Industrial Site’s competitiveness by limiting the amount of time an interested company can get to market.”
The SITE Program offers resources to help communities identify potential sites for economic development, provides funding to complete due diligence on publicly controlled sites, and provides funding to extend public utilities to publicly controlled sites or to conduct clearing and rough grading of publicly owned sites. The three phases of the SITE Program are Identification, Due Diligence, and Development.
Since 1999, Golden LEAF has funded 2,280 projects totaling $1.3 billion supporting the mission of advancing economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities.
For more information about the Hwy 1 Industrial Site, email Charla Duncan, Director of Warren County Community and Economic Development, at charladuncan@warrencountync.gov.
To learn more about the Golden LEAF Foundation, visit https://goldenleaf.org/