County gets grant for cemetery
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 4, 2014 10:59 PM
Wayne County is getting its grant -- and a new state veterans cemetery.
A $5,336,149 federal grant has been awarded to the state for construction of the Eastern Carolina State Veterans Cemetery on Long's Plant Farm Road east of Goldsboro.
It has been a year since it was announced last October that the state was expected to be awarded the grant for the project. The state earlier allocated $600,000 that was used to hire the architect and to design the project.
Thursday's announcement means that the "check is in the mail," said Wayne County Commissioner Bill Pate.
"This is an important project, not only for Wayne County, but for our country," said Pate, chairman of the commission's Veterans Affairs Committee. "As we accept this grant to prepare a final resting place for our veterans, let us all remember the sacrifices made by these men and women to protect our freedom we enjoy today.
"It is their brave devotion to the United States of America that makes this possible, and they have my eternal thanks."
The grant, being funded through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, will help the state provide continued service for 5,332 veterans and their families in the state, according to a letter from U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald.
The letter points out that the closest national cemetery is the Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury which is approximately 190 miles northwest of Goldsboro.
The closest state cemetery is Sandhill State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake, which is approximately 64 miles southwest near Fort Bragg.
The Wayne County area's population does not meet the threshold for the cemetery to receive national designation.
The grant will fund the construction of a main entrance, an administration building, a maintenance facility, roads, an assembly area, a committal shelter, 1,874 preplaced crypts, 882 cremains (the remains of people who have been cremated) gravesites, a columbaria with 480 columbarium niches (for urns holding the remains of people who have been cremated), a memorial walkway, a memorial wall, landscaping and supporting infrastructure.
The project will develop approximately 20 acres of the approximately 80-acre site on Long's Plant Road.
The cemetery will be maintained by the state.
Pate said he has not heard any update on the project bids that have been sent to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Cemetery Grants Office in Washington, D.C.
Approval of the bid and contractor could be announced this month.
Daniels and Daniels Construction Co. of Goldsboro submitted the low bid for the work.
But Pate said that the federal government is not required to accept the low bid.
Daniels and Daniels submitted a base bid of nearly $3 million and a base bid plus add alternates of $4,126,400. Add alternates are construction add-ons that will enhance the project, facilities or the aesthetic appearance of the cemetery.
The bids were opened Aug. 14.
Officials with SfL+a, the project architect, compiled the bids and recommended to the State Construction Office the company with the lowest bid, plus "add alternates."
The state received additional funds to do five of the seven add alternates, but no decision has been made on which five it would be.
The seven proposed additions are a driveway and garage bays to the maintenance shed; double-depth concrete crypts in the burial area; a 10-foot-wide sidewalk and a memorial wall; fence and fence signs; flag assembly area and branch service flags; a set of Armed Forces medallions; and a through wall gravesite locator kiosk.
Construction is expected to take about 10 months, depending on the weather, and could cost between $3.8 million and $4.5 million.