Golden LEAF announced yesterday that their board of directors awarded $4,910,962 in funds for the first round of the organization’s SITE program. 

The program “supports communities in identifying potential sites for economic development and provides funds to enable completion of due diligence on sites already identified or to extend public utilities to or conduct rough grading and clearing of sites for which due diligence has been completed,” the press release said. There are three phases to SITE: Identification, Due Diligence and Development. 

“The need for industrial sites, especially in rural areas, was a gap identified in our strategic planning process,” said Scott T. Hamilton, Golden LEAF president and CEO. “The Golden LEAF Board was excited to award the first round of SITE Program projects that will help increase economic opportunity in North Carolina by establishing or readying available industrial sites. Golden LEAF will launch a second round of the SITE Program in 2022.”

The awarded dollars will go toward 11 different projects across 11 counties, including Cumberland County. 

The other counties listed were Macon, Montgomery, Halifax, Nash, Alexander, Yancey, Duplin, Franklin, McDowell and Rockingham Counties.

The Golden LEAF program awarded $4,794,962 in projects “that will provide public infrastructure and, for publicly owned sites, clearing and rough grading, to benefit sites that have completed the due diligence necessary to demonstrate that the site is suitable for development.” One of the six projects covered by the award is in Fayetteville. 

The city will receive $965,830 “to upgrade a sewer lift station and construct a force main, and some due diligence activities for 172.13 acres located at Fayetteville Regional Airport,” the organization said. 

Over two decades, Golden LEAF has funded 1,962 projects totaling more than $1 billion.

The Golden LEAF board of directors also elected their board officers and committee chairs at their meeting, including one person from Cumberland County; the new elected members assumed their new roles upon the conclusion of the meeting. 

The new officers and chairs are as follows: 

Board Officers

Chair of the Board – Don Flow of Forsyth County

Vice Chair of the Board – Ralph Strayhorn of Mecklenburg County

Treasurer – Bobbie Richardson of Franklin County 

Secretary – Johnathan Rhyne, Jr. of Lincoln County

Assistant Secretary – Bobbie Richardson of Franklin County 

Committee Chairs

Programs Committee – Brian Raynor of Cumberland County

Personnel / Nominations Committee – David Rose of Nash County

Finance Committee – Jerome Vick of Wilson County

Investment Committee – Ralph Strayhorn of Mecklenburg County 

Audit Committee – Barry Dodson of Rockingham County

“The Board is grateful for the leadership, insight, and service of outgoing Board Chair Bo Biggs,” said Golden LEAF Board Chair Don Flow. “Bo helped lead the Board through a strategic planning process to make Golden LEAF more effective in moving the economic needle in rural, economically distressed, and tobacco-dependent North Carolina communities. During his time as Chair, Golden LEAF awarded 168 projects totaling $94.8 million dollars. Thank you, Bo, for your strategic vision.”