OTHER-2025-005-Acceptance of the Agricultural Growth Zone Grant with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture

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9 . The Grantee shall provide the Agency with the appropriate reimbursement request (downloadable at www.ncadfp. org) and required documentation of performance and expenditures for associated grant reimbursement. The Agency shall make payments to the Grantee on the following guidance . • No more than $25 , 000 if the grant award is $27, 778 or greater and up to 90% of the grant if the award is less than $27, 778 before the recording of the " Conservation Easement. " • All payment requests must document the purpose of using grant funds and be within the approved amounts designated in the contract grant budget. • At the time of a properly recorded "Conservation Easement, " the Agency shall pay the Grantee no more than 90% of the awarded grant amount. • The Grantee shall ensure that acreage approved in the AGZ Parcel Approval Form are placed under an agricultural easement with no more than a 5% variance in recorded easement acreage without the prior written approval of the Agency. i . If the variance is greater than 5% of the contracted acres and is greater than the acres listed above, the additional acreage will be approved under one of the following scenarios : 1 . The additional acres are included in the original parcels , and the variance is due to the Conservation Easement Survey updates . 2 . The additional acres are parcels or areas within the original parcels under the same ownership as the original parcels, are in working lands use, and are within, adjacent, or contiguous to the original parcels . ii . If the variance is greater than 5 % of the contracted acres and is less than the acres listed above, the grant funds for conservation easement purchase will be reduced proportionally based on the new acreage . • The division of the funds used to purchase the agricultural easement from matching resources and Agency resources must be maintained, as noted in the grant contract budget. • At no time shall the total payment of grant funding exceed the grant contract value . • All Grantee payments must have receipts of expenditures to verify the use of funding per contracted purposes . • The Agency shall make the payment within 60 days of any grant reimbursement request by the Grantee with approved documentation. 10 . The Grantee will use the selected conservation easement purchase funding program as determined in the approved budget. 11 . The conservation easement closing payment request may be submitted in writing using the Easement Closing Check Request form by the Grantee 30 days before the set closing date, provided the following items have been achieved : • All closing documents (conservation easement, HUD statement, title commitment, and subordination agreement if required) have been reviewed and approved by ADFPTF and NCDA&CS legal staff. 8