TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. (WHKY) – At their meeting earlier this week, the Alexander County Board of Commissioners approved an agreement with the North Carolina Railroad Company to receive an additional $50,000 grant to evaluate a second site in the Alexander Industrial Park. The first $50,000 grant agreement was approved in August. County Attorney Ben Faulkenberry presented the agreement at the meeting. He said studies funded through the initial grant are underway, with results expected by the end of October.

In April, the board approved an option-to-purchase agreement with Alexander Railroad Company for two parcels totaling approximately 115 acres adjacent to the industrial park. The agreement with NC Railroad gives the county two years to determine whether the property is suitable for industrial development. The studies will include a Phase I environmental site assessment and a site survey, as well as, if necessary, a boundary and topographic survey, streams and wetlands survey, threatened and endangered species survey, and geotechnical studies with borings.

The studies funded by the grant are part of the county’s due diligence process and do not commit the county to purchasing the property. According to the grant agreement, NC Railroad created the program to provide funding to communities to help eliminate site development barriers and create a pipeline of investment in new industrial sites in North Carolina.

“We are grateful to the North Carolina Railroad Company for providing additional grant funding to help us evaluate another potential site in the Alexander Industrial Park,” said Larry Yoder