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Contact: Patricia Smith MOREHEAD CITY – N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel today announced the final projects selected for funding from the Waterfront Access and Marine Industry Fund. A grant of $2.8 million is earmarked to purchase 6.98 acres at the end of Lewis Road in Hampstead for a public boat ramp and parking facility and $2 million is set aside to buy any combination of four parcels on Fulcher’s Landing Loop Road in Sneads Ferry for commercial and recreational docks, a public boat ramp and parking. The funding is pending state appraisals, successful price negotiations for property acquisition and possible supplementary finances through other sources. The sites were selected from 16 applications for proposals from the southern coastal area of the state. The division re-advertised for proposals from this area of the coast in July after the state was unable to come to terms with property owners for the purchase of two sites that had been chosen from original applicants in 2007. Approximately $4.8 million remained in the WAMI fund that had been earmarked for the purchase of the Millis Seafood site in Sneads Ferry and the Greer/Matthews properties in Hampstead. “We chose the original sites because of the great and growing need for water access in these two areas,” Daniel said. “We wanted to stay as close to this original plan as possible when selecting sites for their replacements.” The new Lewis Road site was, in fact, included in the originally-selected Hampstead tracts. The Sneads Ferry properties, a completely new proposal, include the site of the Green Turtle Restaurant and nearby lots. Should the state be unable to close on either of these properties, $1 million of the allocation will go to an alternative project for a waterfront park at Seabreeze in New Hanover County. Any remaining money will go toward mini grants for improvements at other existing WAMI sites along the coast. The N.C. General Assembly created the $20 million WAMI fund in 2007 to acquire waterfront properties or develop facilities to provide, improve or develop public and commercial waterfront access. The fund is financed through certificate of participation bonds to be repaid by the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. For more information on the WAMI process, contact DMF State Grants Coordinator Bonnie Jones at (252) 808-8113 or [email protected]. |