Monday was hailed as a great day for Carroll County by local, state and federal politicians. The reason for the local optimism stemmed from Congressman Rick Boucher’s announcement that Carroll would receive $1.9 million in federal funding for the construction of a new wastewater system at Wildwood Commerce Park at Exit 19 of Interstate 77.

Boucher said the new service will serve 34 homes situated along portions of Airport Road and Training Center Road that don’t currently have access to public wastewater services. The $1.9 million comes to the Carroll County Public Service Authority (PSA) in the form of a low-interest loan from federal funding agency Rural Development.

“The new Wildwood Commerce Park is truly transformative for economic development in Carroll County. It is 1,400 acres in projected size and it represents a tremendous investment in time and resources by the project developers,” Boucher said. “It opens the door to an unparalleled opportunity for economic growth at the location of new industry and the creation of jobs in Carroll County. But to have that facility be successful, to realize that industry location and that job growth, the provision of publicly-provided sewer service to that location is absolutely essential. Today through this extension of federal funding, that opportunity becomes available.”

Boucher was also in Carroll in December of 2008 for the groundbreaking of the Woodlawn Wastewater System that is now bringing sewer from areas of Carroll west of I-77 to the Galax City limits. Boucher called the agreement between Carroll and Galax an innovative and forward-looking idea that has benefited Galax because it can now rent excess sewer capacity to Carroll County, and benefited the county because it was able to avoid the expense of building its own plant. Boucher said that agreement has proven beneficial again as the Wildwood Commerce Park projects connects to Woodlawn, where it will flow to Galax for treatment.

Boucher commended local businessmen Mike Turman of Turman Lumber and Don Branscome of DLB, Inc., the major developers of the 1,400-acre Wildwood Commerce Park.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see that park. It is an enormous expanse of developable property, and because of the time and resources already that have been invested by Mike and by Don, 130 acres of that potential 1,400 acres has been prepared for industry,” Boucher said. “That 130 acres has been graded and is now available for industrial location. With the provision now of sewer service to the entire site, we have the opportunity to have a realization of all 1,400 acres to be made available for industrial growth.”

After thanking all those involved in making funding for the project available, Boucher assured the crowd it would not be the last time he would be in Carroll County to announce federal funding for an important infrastructure project.

State Senator Roscoe Reynolds called Monday a great day for Carroll County before thanking Boucher for his work for the citizens of Carroll County. Travis Jackson, Area Director of Rural Development, said Wildwood Commerce Park will be a very important piece of the overall economic development picture for Carroll County.

“It is going to be another piece of other projects that are in the design phase right now that will piece together infrastructure programs that will further enhance the ability of this county to attract new industry, to attract new residential development and also make it a better place to live for its existing citizens,” Jackson said. “This is a very good day for Carroll County and it is a good day because you had the foresight to work with the Congressman’s Office, to work with our office to try to meet this need.”

Jackson also pledged that his office would continue to work with Congressman Boucher’s office on projects identified by Carroll County to meet the water and sewer needs of the region.

Carroll County PSA Chairman Sam Dickson drew from the classic children’s television show Mr. Rogers, calling Monday a “beautiful day in the neighborhood of Carroll County.” Dickson said the announcement would open many doors for Carroll County, calling it another piece in a big puzzle. Dickson said the Austinville Regional Water project will connect every water system in the county once it comes to fruition in the near future.

“We connect this system with the Galax park and its capacity is going to be unlimited. I want to thank our friends in Galax for taking the extra waste we don’t have a way to handle,” Dickson said. “To put all this together takes a lot and Galax and Grayson and Carroll have formed a union that is the envy of a lot of localities because we work together well.”

Dickson said the current PSA board saw the need to push infrastructure around the county when it took office in January of 2008. He said there is much work left to do, including projects on Exit 1 in Lambsburg, at Exit 8 in Fancy Gap, and the regional water project as well as projects at Honeycutt Dam, Fries Road, Dugspur, Cana, and Sylvatus.

“Winston Churchill said one time, ‘This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps it is the end of the beginning.’ So mark your calendar, today is an important day in Carroll County and we are going to have plenty more,” Dickson said.

Carroll County Board of Supervisors’ Chairman David Hutchins called Monday a “Wow Day,” which he said began with a meeting with Boucher’s staff where the county learned of many competitive grants it will be going after. Hutchins reiterated others comments that the Wildwood announcement is just one of many the county will be making.

Hutchins said the county has four potential goldmines between its four I-77 exits. Exit 14 in Hillsville is well developed, he said, while Exit 8 in Fancy Gap would be booming with some help. Exit 1 in Lambsburg and Exit 19 in Wildwood are just there, he added.

“Our friends Mike and Don have put a lot of money into leveling that, but until we can provide probably three different ingredients there it doesn’t matter. If we don’t get sewer, if we don’t get water and if we don’t get broadband, then it doesn’t matter about the rest of it,” Hutchins said. “We drove through Tennessee some time back and you see numerous flat parcels, maybe as large as Mike and Don’s sitting there, with water, sewer, broadband, natural gas on site. That is important. We are almost there but we need to work on this and the other two exits. But today is a wonderful day and for those who made it happen, thanks.”

County Administrator Gary Larrowe said construction of the project would be awarded very soon. Once that happens, he said Wildwood will be connected to the Woodlawn-Galax “very quickly.”