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Monroe accepts select-site grant for Expressway Commerce Park preliminary engineering
Summary
Monroe City Council voted to accept a Select Site due‑diligence grant from the North Carolina Economic Development Partnership to pay for preliminary engineering at the Expressway Commerce Park and authorized the city manager to execute necessary documents.
Monroe City Council on April 29 voted to accept a Select Site due‑diligence grant from the North Carolina Economic Development Partnership to fund preliminary engineering work at the Expressway Commerce Park and authorized the city manager to execute the necessary documents.
The grant is for the Select Site due‑diligence (Selective Readiness Program) to support preliminary engineering for the Expressway Commerce Park. During the meeting finance/staff presentation, the award amount was reported on the record as $440,000 and staff asked the council to accept the award and allow the city manager to sign related agreements.
The grant acceptance passed after a motion and second; council members indicated support by raising hands when asked to signify approval. Council did not take additional action beyond accepting the award and authorizing execution of documents on the record.
In discussion after the acceptance, Lisa Hollowell (presenter) told the council there is a concurrent effort at the state level to repurpose existing Select Site funds and seek substantially more money to extend site work beyond preliminary engineering. "They're looking to try to repurpose the current funds and expand the program," Hollowell said, adding that an effort is underway through the North Carolina partnership to repurpose roughly $10 million already awarded to 15 projects for site clearing and to request more than $200 million to build out the sites and make them shovel‑ready. Hollowell said the city had communicated support for moving that effort forward.
Council took no additional formal votes tied to the larger state funding effort; staff said they would continue conversations and update the council as new information arrives.
Background: the Select Site/Selective Readiness program grants are intended to support local site preparation so properties can be marketed to prospective industries; the council packet described this award as targeted to preliminary engineering for the Expressway Commerce Park and included an accompanying capital project budget ordinance for adoption.
Next steps: staff will execute the grant agreement as authorized and return to council if additional actions or matching funds are required.
