SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council approved the accepting of approximately $11.4 million in state funding with a $320,000 local match, funding that will be utilized to renovate the historic Salisbury Depot into a multi-modal transportation center.

The majority of the funding, approximately $8.5 million, comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program, which is administered in North Carolina by the N.C. Department of Transportation and aims to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by reducing traffic-related emissions, particularly in areas of the country that did not meet national air quality standards. The city will provide the $320,000 local match and the state will provide another $2.8 million match.

“I’m excited about this item tonight. It’s a critically important item for the city, both from a historic preservation and an economic development standpoint,” said City Manager Jim Greene Jr.

The city applied for the grant with the aim of reducing emissions by increasing train ridership, which would simultaneously reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles, by expanding the depot waiting room and providing expanded transportation options to and from the depot.

The grant funding requires that the city control the historic Salisbury Depot building in perpetuity, said Transportation Director Wendy Brindle. However, the Historic Salisbury Foundation currently owns the building, and Executive Director Kimberly Stieg said that they do not have any agreements with the city on the future usage or renovation of the building.

“Our intent and concern for the future of the Salisbury Station is to ensure its historic integrity and preservation. Our stakeholders care deeply about this and as its stewards, we do as well. At this time, Historic Salisbury Foundation has not entered into any agreement with the city of Salisbury or any other entities for the sale or change of use for the station. However, we continue to be interested in further discussion,” said Stieg.

Brindle said that the agreement being brought before the councilors was simply the very first step in a long process. Typically, federally-funded DOT projects require the design phase of the project to come first. However, the acquisition phase, including the building and relevant right-of-ways, would be first due to the nature of the depot project, she said.

“Executing this agreement would actually start the process for this particular project, the multi-modal hub. There are other steps along the way with the municipal agreement that the city will encounter. We have to authorize funds for everything we do, so we can’t begin acquisition negotiations until we have those funds authorized if we want to be reimbursed,” said Brindle, after being asked for clarification on the timeline by Mayor Pro Tem Tamara Sheffield.

The project itself will include improvements aimed at local and long-distance busses, pedestrians, bicycles and private ride-share services such as Uber or Lyft, said Brindle. She showed concept plans stemming from a 2018 NCDOT study. On the interior of the building, the plans called for the building to be converted back into a dedicated train station, with renovations including a passenger waiting area, a ticket office and a baggage claim area. The exterior renovations would include changing the streetscape and traffic pattern on Depot Street in front of the station, increased parking space and dedicated bus spaces.

Brindle said that one of the city’s main priorities for the project is to maintain the historic character of the building. She provided the four goals of the project, which were:

• Enhancing the community by preserving and improving an iconic historic asset.
• Providing a multi-modal transportation center that provides convenient, direct and safe transportation options.
• Contributing to an expansion in tourism and entertainment.
• Promoting future development opportunities as a centerpiece of public-private partnerships.

The depot project is not directly connected to the “Western North Carolina Passenger Service,” which would connect Salisbury to Asheville via passenger rail service, but Brindle said that the ability to expand the city’s rail passenger services was considered during the process. That railroad-service expansion is projected to add approximately 100,000 local trips from Salisbury and 290,000 connecting trips in Salisbury in 2045.

The state also has an additional $16 million project impacting the depot area, which would add a second Amtrak platform on the eastern side of the railroad as well as a pedestrian underpass connecting the two sides. That project is currently on hold, but the NCDOT has already acquired the right-of-ways from HSF and the city is looking into certain railroad requirements before continuing.

Brindle said that if the agreement between the city and NCDOT was approved, the city would have a five-year window within which to complete the project. She also noted that if the cost of the project exceeds the grant amount, the city will be responsible for the excess costs.

After the discussion, the members of the city council voted unanimously to authorize Greene to enter into the municipal agreement with the NCDOT for the funding. Mayor Karen Alexander was not present at the meeting, with Sheffield saying that after multiple internal meetings that day, she had decided to return home to rest. Alexander recently announced that she would have to limit her availability to focus on her health after a cancer diagnosis.