As local leaders continue to work on the complete extension of water and sewer lines along the U.S. 421 industrial corridor funded through the state’s Connect NC bond initiative, New Hanover County’s proposed budget for next fiscal year includes another possible option.

County manager Chris Coudriet recommends that the county establish a capital ordinance for a $14.6 million investment that extends a 16-inch water line and 8-inch sewer force main from the Isabel Holmes Bridge to the Pender County line through limited obligation bonds. But the budget summary also clarifies that additional funding sources are being pursued.

With one pump station, the project would cost about $16.7 million, according to an estimate included in a preliminary engineering report county officials heard from Tony Boahn, an engineer with planning and engineering firm McKim & Creed, in March. In April, the Board of Commissioners agreed to spend $2.1 million for the project's design work, an action that was consistent with the engineering report.

“County staff is working with the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority to secure funding from the Connect NC bonds to fund all or most of the project. If the Board approves the capital ordinance, water and sewer will be available along U.S. 421 by July 1, 2019,” the budget summary says.

Coudriet presented the budget to county commissioners on Monday afternoon.

County commissioner Woody White and Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) pushed for language to be inserted in the newly approved Connect NC bond package that could enable the U.S. 421 project to receive state funding.

“Senator Lee and I are in continued communication with the folks at [the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality] and the utility authority to ensure a smooth grant and loan application process and to offer any additional assistance that might be necessary to procure the funding,” White said Tuesday. “We’re still very optimistic that it’s going to be covered, and we continue to believe that that money should be repurposed for the 421 corridor.”

County commissioner Rob Zapple said while county leaders are hoping the Connect NC funding comes through for the project, he believes the captial ordinance is more of a sure-fire way to get the long-stalled infrastructure improvement started.

"We're going to make it happen this time. And if that means funding it straight from the county with a payment mechanism attached to it, a legitimate and clear repayment schedule that will, as developers develop along the way, ensure the county gets its investment back, then I'm all for it," Zapple said 

Funding for the project is one of several ways included in the recommended county budget to “stimulate, through business-friendly County policies and processes, at least $1 billion of private investment to grow the County’s tax base,” the budget document says.