The Town of Leland actively seeks grants and other funding opportunities to fund various projects, procure specialty equipment, and provide funding for training. Grant funding allows the Town to go beyond the limits of our operational budget and provide a solution for evolving community problems. Thank you to the agencies for recognizing the needs of our Town.
Since 2005, the Apache Corporation Tree Grant Program has provided more than 5 million trees to over 1,000 nonprofit charitable partners and government agencies in the U.S. The Apache Corporation donates trees to a wide variety of organizations, including cities, counties, schools, parks, universities, youth associations, wildlife refuges and charitable service groups. In addition to the development and improvement of public parks and greenspaces, community partners often request trees to support a broad range of conservation efforts, including preservation of natural habitats and reforestation.
The Town of Leland has applied for the Apache Corporation Tree Grant Program. The Town of Lelandplan to plant trees along an area pathway. These trees will provide a shaded pathway for pedestrians and cyclists, making the area more inviting and comfortable for users.
The Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) reimburses states, units of local government, and federally recognized Indian tribes, for up to 50 percent of the cost of body armor vests purchased for law enforcement officers. The Town of Leland has completed an application for the Police Department for acquisition of 13 bulletproof vests. These vests will significantly enhance the safety of our officers. These vests will be provided to new officers as well as replacing vests that have past the effective use date.
The NC Division of Public Health is awarding a limited number of bike amenity packages, which include one public work stand and two bike racks for North Carolina communities. Partial awards may be granted based on the number of available items. The public work stands are outdoor self-service repair stations with ADA-compliant design, providing tools that can be used for bikes and other wheeled devices. These amenities can be used to help support North Carolina communities promote physical activity opportunities.
If awarded, the Town of Leland will install the bike racks and bike repair stand at the newly renovated Founders Park.
The Gateway District Utility Resiliency project is the relocation of approximately 4,800 linear feet of existing overhead power and telecommunication lines to underground service conduits. The Gateway District project area is located along Village Road between Andrew Jackson Highway and Oakland Avenue, which includes a primary electric utility substation, as well as many basic service businesses, such as grocery stores, medical facilities, pharmaceutical retailers, fuel centers, and restaurants, and approximately four hundred and fifty (450) directly-served residential units.
The Gateway District Utility Resiliency project, also known as the Village Road Utility Conversion project, will reduce the risk of power line and telecommunication destruction in a natural disaster, sustain existing businesses, reduce obstructions impacting vehicular crashes with possible fatalities, and potentially attract new businesses to the area. Leland, as part of Brunswick County, has been under a Presidentially declared FEMA emergency ten times since 2010. This mitigation project is critical to the resiliency of our community and its citizens.
The initial scoping, feasibility, and preliminary layout phase of the project was completed in 2019 in conjunction with Duke Energy.
The Town of Leland was awarded $750,000 through the FY23 Appropriations process towards the engineering and design portion of this project.
Leland Unpaved Road Improvements project is the improvement the gravel roads of John Sneed Lane, Breman Lane, Graham Drive and Appleton Way by widening, paving, adding curb and gutter, installing new signs and sidewalks, and drainage improvements to allow the Town to provide safe and equitable modes of transportation. The Leland Unpaved Road Improvements project will improve safety of these roadways, provide safer multimodal facilities by providing sidewalks for nonmotorized travel, increase access to roadways, and allow greater connectivity to parks and multi-use paths.
The Leland Unpaved Road Improvements project will widen the dirt roadway to two 9-foot travel lanes on John Sneed Lane. In addition, a 5-foot concrete sidewalk will be installed along one side of the road. Graham Drive will widen and pave the dirt roadway to two 10-foot travel lanes with a 5-foot sidewalk along one side of the road. Appleton Way will pave and widen the dirt roadway to 10-foot travel lanes with 5-foot sidewalk along one side of the road. The total length of pavement needed for the Leland Unpaved Road Improvement plan is approximately 5,690 Linear Feet. The length of paving for sidewalk is approximately 5,470 Linear Feet.
DRMG funds can be used for flood mitigation efforts that stabilize areas and reduce future damage, or for predevelopment assistance to provide small and underserved communities with technical assistance to identify and design shovel-ready projects related to disaster relief and flood mitigation.
Leland is susceptible to many coastal hazards such as natural disasters, excess flooding, and storm surge. During Hurricane Florence, parts of Leland were isolated due to flooding of roadways, including NCDOT identified evacuation routes. With climate change and coastal hazards increasing, the Town is taking steps to make Leland more resilient and to flourish for many years to come.
The Town has assessed critical transportation routes within its municipal boundaries subject to coastal hazards. The Town identified and ranked priority transportation improvement projects to adapt and mitigate potential transportation vulnerabilities vital for emergency services, evacuations, and the movement of supplies in a natural disaster.
As the Town of Leland continues to grow, focus is being placed on improving and updating areas with flooding issues. The Town of Leland is striving to modernize infrastructure assets to meet the safety needs of the residents of the town. Leland is dedicated to creating resilient routes in order to bring safe and equitable modes of transportations.