By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com

Sanford city leaders learned last week that their bid for federal funding that would have supported the construction of a commuter rail and mobility station along the proposed redevelopment corridor called the Sanford Central Green was not successful.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation had applied on behalf of Sanford and other communities that would make up a revitalized commuter railway service stretching from Norlina near the Virginia border southward to Sanford. The goal of the corridor is to better connect rural and urban communities, expand freight and passenger services, and reduce travel times for passengers headed in both directions.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced on March 13 that $3.3 billion in federal grant funding will be awarded to 132 communities across the country for planning, capital construction, and regional partnership grants designed to repair harm caused by infrastructure choices of the past. The NCDOT S-Line project, a 95-mile rail corridor that is described as the missing link in modern rail transportation in the southeast and of which Sanford is a part, was not selected for funding during this round.

DOT had requested $107.3 million for the project, and Sanford would have received almost a third of that amount if the federal government had funded NCDOT’s proposal.

Without the $33 million in funding that would have been Sanford’s share of the project, city hall’s plans for the greenspace are suddenly thrust into doubt. The city has been able to piece together funding from a handful of grant sources for some essential parts of the project, but the absence of its planned “mobility hub” could leave a giant-sized hole that could doom the effort unless other funding can be found.

Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon told The Rant that city officials were “disappointed,” but already looking for other funding options.

“We were disappointed, obviously, but we are playing the long game here. We are going to continue searching for other potential sources of funding to make this vision come to life,” she said. “The Ag Marketplace will start going up soon, and work will begin on returning Little Buffalo Creek to its original banks. Things are happening and that pace is going to be picking up, so we are still very optimistic that the resources needed to make this transformative project a reality are out there and that we are going to be able to win them.”

All dressed up and no place to go

City government began efforts back in the early 2000s to obtain property for a proposed greenway that would stretch from Sanford’s Municipal Building into the heart of its central business district. As happens often with large projects like this one, progress was slow at first. But eventually, some momentum began to build as the city obtained grant funds to plan the project and began scooping up small pieces of land along the way. Over time, it gained ownership of enough tracts to reach a tipping point where it was ready to make a move on the bigger pieces of real estate that were necessary if the Green was to become reality.

What happened next depends on who you listen to. But here’s what we know for sure.

The city is currently entangled in a lawsuit with private developer Nick Jordan over the purchase of a decrepit but historic building that has been the focus of discussions in recent years as a possible site for commuter rail station, in addition to office space, breweries, retail, and coffee shops. Jordan had been negotiating with the city for years and claims it bought the building out from under him, while the city counters it was simply exercising its privilege to purchase the property outright.

Known locally as the Singer Building, the structure sits just behind the old city hall location along the current line of Little Buffalo Creek. The city announced plans for its “Sanford Central Green” development just a day after Jordan’s lawyers filed suit against the city for breach of contract, asking a judge to prevent the city from completing the purchase and award the property instead to Jordan.

The case is moving forward through the court system now.

Land re-zoned for Ag Market

A peripheral development that took place just before the city learned it will not receive federal grant dollars to rehabilitate the Singer Building came when the city council rezoned just over one and a half acres of land along the southern boundary of the proposed Central Green as the permanent location for a new farmers market.

The proposed Sanford Agricultural Marketplace, a facility that will eventually become the permanent home to Lee County’s Farmers Market and more, lies at the southern end of the Green on Charlotte Avenue, and the city council took action on March 5 to rezone five tracts of land it already owns to make way for it.

The site is located along the northwest intersection of Charlotte Avenue and First Street and consists of 1.67 acres. Previously zoned as Residential Single-Family (R-6) and Light Industrial (LI), the action reclassified the combined tract for zoning purposes as Central Business District.

Two-thirds of the facility’s 12,000 square feet will be reserved for an open-air market where farmers will be able to bring their goods and sell them to the public. In addition to supporting local farmers, the facility will also help to bring increased foot traffic to the downtown area and address the issue of food insecurities that exist in many places across the county.

In addition to the city of Sanford, the project is also being supported by Lee County Government and the Lee County Cooperative Extension Service, part of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. The $4.4 million total estimated costs for the project have been covered by a variety of grants (including the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund, Pilgrim’s Hometown Strong, the Rural Transformation Grant Fund, and the Lee County Farm Bureau).

Additionally, the city appropriated $2.2 million of its American Rescue Plan Act allocation to help pay for the project. Construction is expected to begin this June and be completed before July of 2025.

The current location for the farmers market, located just across Charlotte Avenue from where the new facility will be built, hosts between 30 to 40 vendors when the market is in operation. The opening of the Agricultural Marketplace next summer is expected to grow that number of vendors by up to 30 percent and see the amount of foot traffic double.