LUMBERTON — City government has been awarded a $6.8 million federal grant that will be used to improve stormwater drainage in the Tanglewood community and reduce the risk of flooding.
City leaders were told this week that it had been granted the money from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, via Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, City Manager Wayne Horne said Friday. It will be a big funding boost to the effort to ease flooding in the neighborhood around Southeastern Regional Medical Center, a project that was put on hold in September by Lumberton City Council because of funding concerns.
The $6.8 million grant will be matched with more than $2.3 million in state money, Horne said. The money will help preserve 1,800 existing jobs that are put at risk by flooding in the Tanglewood area.
“This is just a standalone project but it gives us the ability to do more in the future,” Horne said. “This is very significant for the hospital and redirecting water from around there. It will also allow us to tie in additional lines, with it being a main trunk for drainage.”
The grant program is funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019, which provided the EDA with $600 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas affected by hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane, and other major natural disasters that occurred in 2018.
“Lumberton was devastated by inland flooding following hurricanes Matthew and Florence,” said U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican. “Since those storms ripped through North Carolina, I have been working extensively with local leaders and federal agencies to mitigate future infrastructure damage.”
Hurricanes Matthew and Florence caused flooding in the Tanglewood neighborhood. Flooding during both storms caused issues for SRMC’s emergency room. The Tanglewood drainage project is designed to redirect nearly two acres worth of water directly toward the Lumber River. The drainage system in Tanglewood currently directs stormwater toward Fayetteville Road down Meadow Branch and across Roberts Avenue, under Interstate 95 at the former Ramada Inn, through Mayfair subdivision, across N.C. 211 and then to the river.
The federal grant required a 20% match from the city, Horne said. The city is using a $3 million grant it received from the Golden LEAF Foundation in 2017 as the matching funds.
The city now enters the project planning stage, Horne said. The grant requires a bid and plan for the entire project before the money can be received. The city anticipates that process to take four to six month.
A timeline for completion of the project has yet to be set, the city manager said. The city will have a clearer plan when it receives the grant agreement in the coming months.
The Tanglewood project was made possible by regional planning efforts led by the Southeastern Economic Development Commission. The Economic Development Administration funds the SEDC to bring together the public and private sectors to strengthen the regional economy.
The city applied for grants through the EDA with the help of Hillary Sherman, North Carolina’s state representative to the EDA; SEDC Executive Director Pam Bostic and Lumberton Director of Public Works Rob Armstrong, Horne said.
