Polk County was recently awarded a $30,750 grant to extend water service to a proposed restaurant in Green Creek.
The grant is from the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, which awarded 38 grants totaling more than $5 million to create jobs, provide clean water and promote economic development in North Carolina. The grants are expected to create 427 jobs throughout the state.
The grant is a 50/50 match, with Polk County commissioners agreeing to apply in October after hearing from Jason Schlabach, who is planning a restaurant and future shopping center in Green Creek.
Commissioners agreed to extend the water line to the restaurant and continue on to the Peniel Road intersection off Hwy. 9.
The county’s main water line runs through the crossroads in Green Creek at Hwy. 9 and the proposed restaurant is just past the intersection. The property is just up Hwy. 9 from the former Crossroads restaurant that burned a couple of years ago.
Schlabach has said the restaurant will seat 120 people and will include a section for coffee and a bakery, as well as a meeting room. Engineers estimated costs for a 12-inch water line from the crossroads to the restaurant at  $60,000 and $180,000 from the crossroads to Peniel Road.
The county plans to pay for the match and additional costs for the water line out of its fund balance. The county still has $21,000 in its water line extension budget for this fiscal year.
Polk County qualified for the rural center grant because the restaurant will create at least four jobs, according to the N.C. Rural Center.