$1.3M grant may aid Wal-Mart

[seriousstan]

PRINCESS ANNE - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s newest planned distribution center could receive up to $1.3 million in federal aid following approval of a Community Development Block Grant application by Somerset County Commissioners this month.

The bulk of the grant - $810,000 - would help fund Wal-Mart's purchase of land for the proposed center on Revells Neck Road in Westover. Currently, the land is owned by Mitchell Bonneville Jr., who operates a borrow pit on the site.

According to the proposal, $500,000 from the grant would help fund street improvements between Sign Post Road and the entrance to the Eastern Correctional Institution. Wal-Mart's trucks likely would use this stretch of the road to access the center. Another $30,000 would cover the county's administrative costs in connection with the project.

With the grant application, approved following a public hearing, county officials upheld a vow to assist Wal-Mart in gaining financial support to place a distribution center in Somerset. Commissioners also have borrowed $500,000 as a loan that will allow water and sewer installation at the proposed center's site.
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