Lumberton City Council sets public hearing date for Project Blue Jay incentives

LUMBERTON — Lumberton City Council scheduled a Nov. 4 public hearing on economic incentives related to a major industry expansion in Lumberton.

Council members approved the hearing date Wednesday during their regular monthly meeting, which was held virtually so as to avoid spreading COVID-19.

An unnamed Fortune 500 company in Lumberton is planning a $9.8 million expansion, known as Project Blue Jay, that will create 20 jobs. About $9 million of that cost will predominantly be equipment for a new product line the company will develop in its 6,000-square-foot expansion. The remaining money, about $800,000, will be used for real estate related to the expansion, City Manager Wayne Horne said.

Economic incentives proposed by the city total $81,802.50, which would be provided over three years as a utility tax credit, Horne said.

As for who the company is, that information will be announced during the public hearing, which will part of Council’s regular November meeting.

As is typical such economic development situations, the Robeson County Board of Commissioners also will hold a public hearing. On Monday, the commissioners approved scheduling a public hearing on Project Blue Jay for their Oct. 19 meeting. The county is proposing $97,405 in personal property tax refunds and $10,395 in real estate refunds over three years, totaling $107,400 in incentives, according to County Manager Kellie Blue.

The Robeson County Economic Development Office has been the main agency working with the company on the incentives, Horne said.

“It’s primarily been through the county. We partner through them,” Horne said after Wednesday’s Council meeting. “They’re the lead agency.”

In other economic development news, Council approved city staff moving forward with a grant application with the North Carolina Department of Commerce for the purpose of creating infrastructure for a potential industrial park near interstates 74 and 95.

Discussion of the grant took place in closed session because negotiations related to a potential real estate purchase are confidential.

Council also approved a bid for sewer extension construction at Rosewood Mobile Home Park.

The project is funded by a Community Development Block Grant, and the lowest bid was disqualified because it did not meet CDBG standards. The project was awarded to the next-lowest bid, submitted by Ralph Hodge Construction Company in Wilson. The company’s base bid, with alternates, was $1,358,480.80.

Some of the project’s cost will be covered by the mobile home park’s owner. The city received Rosewood’s payment of $39,214 before Wednesday’s meeting, City Attorney Holt Moore said.

The project includes installation of about 1 mile of sewer pipes and building a new lift station, Horne said previously. The roadway at the site will need to be repaired and the old septic tanks removed.

Also on Wednesday, Council approved two items brought forward by Lumberton police Chief Mike McNeill. The department was given approval to buy two new vehicles, each of which will be fully equipped. Because they will be used by two new officers who will focus on DWI cases, the cost of the vehicles will be reimbursed by the Governor’s Highway Safety Program.

Approval also was given for the police canine Nero to be retired because of failing health, and for his handler, Travis Ransom, to buy Nero from the city for $1.

Council also approved the Lumberton Fire Department’s request to surplus a 1980 GMC 7000 beverage truck that was used for hazardous material response and transporting equipment. It already has been replaced with a new vehicle.

The truck was donated to Lumberton Fire Department, which will donate it to the Pembroke Fire Department.

In other business, Council:

— Approved a contiguous annexation request in the Amberdale subdivision. Six lots will now be annexed into the city.

— Approved a request for the city to look into the feasibility of a contiguous annexation request by Clayton Mobile Homes for property on N.C. 41 North.

— Approved a request from Michael and Billie Gray to rezone property on Barker Ten Mile Road from residential-single family to residential-multi-family. They intend to build a duplex to the property, in addition to an existing residence.

— Approved the purchase of a 2020 directional drill from Vermeer Corporation for $212,420. Vermeer will accept the city’s trade-in offer of $25,000 for a 2004 directional drill and a 1985 flatbed truck, reducing the total cost to $187,420. In the current year’s budget, $200,000 was allocated for the purchase.

— Approved an engineering agreement with the Wooten Company for the Raw Water Intake Improvement Project. The project will cost the city $119,130.

— Approved declaring as surplus property on East Eighth Street. The city previously bought the property through foreclosure, and it is currently boarded up and likely would need to be condemned. City Attorney Holt Moore said there is an interested buyer, and asked to conduct a sealed-bid sale.

— Designated $1,300 in Community Revitalization Funds to the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office for No Shave October through December; $1,100 to Colors of Life for its Thanksgiving giveaway and Christmas dinner; $800 for the repair of a pedestrian bridge over Five Mile Branch; and $600 to the Robeson County Public Library for their Trunk or Treat Halloween celebration. The council and mayor also each pledged $100 in CRF, in addition to $350 from Councilwoman Karen Higley, as reimbursement for an Eagle Scout project at Meadowbrook Cemetery. The Council’s clerk was tasked with adjusting each $100 allocation to a lesser amount so that reimbursement would not exceed the project’s total cost of $949.