Governor Picks Projects for ARC Grants

For more than 20 years, Norton city officials fruitlessly sought state and federal funding to build a sewage system for the 100 homes in the Josephine area now using septic tanks or a line to a river.

“We just said this is a project that the state is not interested in, so we just dropped it,” City Manager Ernie Ward said Thursday.

But a year ago, city officials dusted off the blueprints and began applying again. This time, they were more successful.

On Thursday, Ward learned the project has been recommended for a $500,000 federal grant – enough to land a building contractor before the end of the year.

“This is a last piece of funding that we need to get the project moving,” Ward said.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine picked Norton and 16 other Southwest Virginia localities to receive $2.7 million worth of federal grants. The grants are funneled through the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) program, which serves 13 states.

Though Kaine does not have the final say on where the grants go, a spokeswoman with his office said that the state picks for ARC funding are rarely overturned.

“Sure, I’ll take it,” Ward said.

Also recommended for funding:

* Dickenson County – the Haysi to Big A Mountain Water Project, Phase III, $500,000
* Galax City – Felts Park Performance Center, $99,000
* Lonesome Pine Office on Youth – Straight Songs from the Crooked Road, $65,000
* Norton – Norton Sewer Rehabilitation and Extension Project, $500,000
* Pennington Gap –  Lee Theater Learning Center Renovation, $431,789
* Saltville – Saltville Regional Dental Clinic, $200,000
* Southwest Virginia Community College – Meeting the Demand for Skilled Trades Workers in SWVA, $100,000
* U.Va. Wise – Healthy Appalachia Institute Startup, $90,000
* Virginia Early Childhood Education Foundation –  Southwest Virginia School Reading Initiative, $100,000
* Wise County IDA – Wise Inn Restoration and Redevelopment, $277,574
* Blue Ridge PBS –  Traveling From the Crooked Road, $34,000
* Virginia Economic Bridge –  SWVA Shared Heritage with the European Union, $25,000
* Round’ the Mountain – Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway Web site and database, $200,000
* Virginia Foundation for the Humanities – Virginia Folk life Workshop Stages, $30,000
* Scott County EDA – Duffield Regional Technology Center Geothermal Energy Project, $50,000
* Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Illicit Use of Prescription Drugs in Appalachia: A Regional Model of Intervention, $50,000
* Virginia Western Community College – Craig County Viticulture Initiative, $30,000