2Heritage Farm Park funding gets boosts

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Heritage Farm Park funding gets three fi nancial boosts

Photo by Patti Stokes/NWO Thanks to three unexpected sources of funding, Oak Ridge Town Council will likely borrow far less money than originally planned to develop the 62-acre Heritage Farm Park that borders N.C. 150 and abuts Town Hall on Linville Road.

COVID-19 relief funds and two state grants give Oak Ridge $2.2 million in new options

by CHRIS BURRITT

OAK RIDGE – Oak Ridge Town Council plans to reevaluate how it’s going to pay for development of Heritage Farm Park after the emergence of three new sources of funds totaling $2.2 million.

An easing of restrictions on spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act gives Oak Ridge the option of spending its $1.66 million appropriation on the park, estimated to cost $3.63 million, according to Mayor Ann Schneider. Separately, town leaders learned last month that a second round of funding by the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) awarded the town a $490,000 matching grant for development of Heritage Farm Park.

Third, Oak Ridge won a $50,000 grant from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund for developing the park and the veterans’ site slated for the property, Town Manager Bill Bruce said. As a result, the town council now plans to reassess how to finance the first-phase development of the park on 62 acres that run along N.C. 150 and abut ...continued on p. 8

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