Bladen nonprofit and Elizabethtown officials dispute scope, land and grants for LiveWorkPlay development

Bladen Bloom, a county economic development nonprofit, told Bladen County officials during a public presentation that disagreements with the Town of Elizabethtown over the LiveWorkPlay project have widened from planning details into disputes over land conveyance, project scope and grant administration.

The nonprofit asserted the project originally was planned as a roughly 33-acre mixed development with about one-third commercial uses, but said it has since grown to more than 80 acres and shifted toward hundreds of rental units with little commercial space. That change, Bladen Bloom said, prompted the county to ask for the $100,000 it had provided for planning to be returned.

"We never want to harm the Town of Elizabethtown or the citizens of Elizabethtown," said Joe, a Bladen Bloom representative. He told commissioners the nonprofit, which he described as a nonprofit board that reinvests revenue into county projects, had moved to protect county interests after failing to obtain clear, consistent answers from town administration about financing, schedules and property transfers.

Bladen Bloom described several specific concerns: a land lease and master development agreement they said allowed a developer a 90-year lease (with a 90-year option) at a nominal rent of $1 per year; a schedule in which failure to meet milestones would not be treated as a default; and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement that would benefit the town but not the county if the project obtained tax-exempt status.

County presenters said the original grant applications, public notices and a master plan submitted to grantors showed a 33-acre project that included a distillery, lodging, a health clinic, daycare and commercial flex space. They said later maps from the developer showed commercial acreage reduced to a narrow strip and that, by the time land was conveyed, only two existing commercial facilities remained in the footprint.

Bladen Bloom raised multiple grant-related issues: a $1,100,000 award from Golden Leaf and EPA-linked administration requirements that they said the town risked losing for failure to complete required engineering reports or to provide local match and administration funding. The presenters said the town administration had at points told them it would return federal funds rather than complete required steps and that one grant required three printed reports to remain active.

The presentation also recounted the countyand Bladen Bloompaying engineering and site-preparation costs tied to later-disputed assumptions about who would install roads, water, sewer and stormwater that the town had committed to. Bladen Bloom said it paid for engineering and site work for a planned aviation incubator and for other project pre-development tasks; it also said that increases in projected infrastructure costs grew from about $1 million to several million dollars as estimates changed.

Bladen Bloom addressed a separate, related recruitment for Vulcan Air, an airplane manufacturing facility. The presenters said the county or nonprofit had been awarded or promised several funding sources (they cited a $4 million allocation to Bladen Bloom and other state/division funding). They also said the nonprofit spent roughly $2.5 million to buy four aircraft to keep the Vulcan Air project viable after being told some aircraft purchases were needed to maintain the production line.

The presenters said communication problems and conflicting accounts from town administration had led to mistrust. They said some town officials later apologized or clarified items after the county pressed for documents and that reopening lines of communication had begun to reduce the conflict.

The presentation closed with Bladen Bloom saying it still supports a 33-acre LiveWorkPlay concept, wants housing construction to begin so local health-care providers can staff new facilities, and expects ongoing county-town discussions to resolve outstanding questions. No formal votes were recorded during the presentation.

Ending: County and town officials attending the presentation said follow-up meetings with staff and elected officials were underway. Bladen Bloom and several county commissioners said they expect further discussions in coming weeks to clarify conveyance documents, grant administration responsibilities and a final project map before additional work proceeds.