Funds aimed at fixing Dudley street
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 28, 2012 1:46 PM
Wayne County has been awarded a $500,000 N.C. Catalyst Community Development Block Grant that will be used to help revitalize the Love Drive area of Dudley. The county will provide a $30,000 local match.
The project will include housing rehabilitation and public infrastructure. It will take a little more than two years to complete, and span three different county budgets.
Wayne County was among the 21 counties and communities awarded the grants that are meant to upgrade various transportation, housing, economic development and public neighborhood projects.
The grant funds are provided through a federal interagency partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation. Catalyst funds are dedicated for projects serving persons of low- and moderate-incomes.
The Division of Community Assistance, a division of North Carolina Department of Commerce, administers the N.C. Catalyst program.
Wayne County commissioners applied for the grant in April following a public hearing that generated no public comment.
The hearing was to introduce the project and to recommend applying for grant money. A public hearing earlier was held earlier in the year to talk about the grant and what it can be used for.
The county, several years ago, applied for, but did not receive, a grant for the Love Drive area off of Arrington Bridge Road. At the April public hearing, consultant David Harris of RSM Harris Associates recommended that the county resubmit the application, but with some changes since funding had been reduced from $750,000 to $500,000 per application.
The original application also had included street improvements on Quiet Drive that runs parallel to Love Drive. However, the work on Quiet Drive was eliminated, and the Love Drive project scaled back because of the funding reduction.
The Love Drive project area will be reduced from approximately 900 feet of roadway and nine households, to 600 feet with five households.
The project area will start at the intersection of Love Drive and Arrington Bridge Road, and will require that a street be constructed where there is currently a gravel road. It will be built to state Department of Transportation standards so that it can be taken over by the state for maintenance and not be a long-term maintenance issue for the county.
An undersized waterline would be increased to six inches.