Henderson’s proposed redevelopment project on David Street could expand to become an overhaul of the entire area surrounding the old Harriet & Henderson Yarns plant in North Henderson.
The city applied in December for a concentrated-needs grant of $631,344 through the state Division of Community Assistance’s Community Development Block Grant program to revitalize David Street between Wood and Bobbitt streets. Henderson would add about $89,000 for road work and creation of a park on a vacant lot.
As the project now stands, the city would rehabilitate 10 houses, demolish five (a sixth house due for demolition was destroyed by fire), build two, widen the street, and add curbs and gutters.
Mayor Clem Seifert said last week that his initial meeting with the state’s Jump Team for Henderson raised the idea of a much grander project.
“We may be able to see a tremendous project in that area that touches everything,” Seifert said.
The Jump Team, organized by Kenneth Flowers in the state Department of Commerce, combines an assortment of agencies that could meet Henderson’s specific needs. The Jump Team formed as a result of Assistant Commerce Secretary Cleveland Simpson’s visit to the city in August for a Clean Up Henderson Committee forum.
Seifert said representatives at Tuesday morning’s meeting in Raleigh included the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency, Henderson resident Andrea Harris of the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, and a woman from the Self-Help nonprofit group in Durham.
If the plans come together, Seifert said, the city over several years will address water, sewer, drainage, road, recreation and housing needs in North Henderson. Potentially included would be the old textile plant, now owned by W.W. Properties; the municipal soccer fields, where the city owns an additional 15 acres that Seifert said would be good for a youth or community center; houses near the textile plant in the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction that are in desperate need of sewer connections (some people can’t bathe at home if it rains); the Beacon Light housing project; and Gateway’s housing development.
Residents of the area reflect the city’s makeup, with a mix of homeowners and renters who are black, white and Hispanic.
“That could be as exciting a project as anything Henderson has ever seen because it involves so many different things,” Seifert said.
The project would likely involve some annexation in an area where the city line is jagged.
Seifert also would like to integrate assistance from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD sent a two-person technical assistance team to Henderson last month, and the team is planning a return visit this month to assess the city’s needs and what HUD and other agencies can do to help.
The Jump Team and HUD assistance team should mesh well, said Clean Up Henderson Committee Chairwoman Lynn Harper, who is coordinating the HUD team’s visits. “We hope we can get all of them to Henderson.”
Seifert said the potential in North Henderson is tremendous, but the project could be a pipe dream if the city can’t take advantage of the opportunity while state and federal agencies are focusing on its problems.
“Henderson is the land of 10,000 excuses,” he said.accreditation paul college 2007 quinnhome equity line credit 10025program accreditation physicsdancing sound princesses 12 creditstheology accredited seminarsbuilding department accreditedprograms social work ph accredited damerican credit counslers Map