Feed mill planned for Calypso
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on October 21, 2004 2:01 PM
KENANSVILLE -- The Duplin County commissioners will apply for $350,000 in grants to bring water and sewer service to a new Case Farms feed mill planned for Calypso.
One of the grants will be for $200,000 and will be applied for through the N.C. Rural Center.
The other grant application for $150,000 will come from an Industrial Development Fund, will be applied for through the N.C. Department of Commerce. The county's share of the project would be $25,000.
The total projected cost for water and sewer is expected to be about $410,000.
Officials with the county and with Case Farms, a chicken processing company, haven't commented about the feed mill. The motion passed quickly with no comment.
County officials didn't talk about the identity of the industry coming to Calypso, but the company was named in a resolution approved by the commissioners, which was a part of the grant application process.
Duplin Economic Development Director Woody Brinson announced in September that an agribusiness company was planning to locate in Calypso, and it would hire 30 people. He declined to give the name of the company then, and he could not be reached this morning.
The company had an option to buy land inside Calypso's zoning jurisdiction in September, and Brinson was talking to the Calypso town board about it.
He said the Duplin County commissioners had already agreed to apply for the $200,000 N.C. Rural Center grant and would provide the $25,000 flex grant from the N.C. Eastern Region for part of the local match and was applying for the additional $150,000 from the state Department of Commerce.
He promised it would be a clean industry and would not put off any odors.
Similar operations are in Wayne and Duplin counties, he told the town board in September, and it will increase agricultural opportunities for local farmers.
The Calypso town board voted unanimously to draft a letter supporting the project and agreed to take ownership of water and sewer lines that will be built with the county's grant money.
Town Commissioner Dick Lewis said he was glad the town was getting something that would benefit the area.