Jones County NC

Beverage, a distributor of Budweiser products. Martin Marietta operates a rock quarry near Maysville, providing employment opportunities to many locals past and present. Recently, Ackley Moving and Storage acquired a building in the county industrial park.“They’ll be hiring a lot of truck drivers. They do moving and storage across the United States, and they do a lot with the military,” Bender explains.“We have such a large military presence in this area, and so we are trying to attract businesses that cater to military needs.” To entice new enterprises, the county is building a speculative building in the industrial park, addressing the shortage of available built space. Bender acknowledges, “It’s hard to attract a business with just raw land, and land is hard to come by here just due to our large agriculturally based economy. So, we’re trying to work with what little bit of land the county does have to develop some shell buildings, and that way we can have something available for these businesses to come in, in a fairly short manner.” Bender adds that plans are underway for a joint industrial park with Craven County, which is expected to bring significant job opportunities to the area. He recounts,“The total acreage that we have performed studies on is in the 1,600 acre mark. Of course, this will be a slow build-out.When we move over to this joint park, we’re looking at a long-term growth plan.” Bender says one advantage of partnering with Craven County on such a monumental project is the increased opportunities for extra funding from the General Assembly. He emphasizes, “It’ll be great working with Craven County on this. It will bring a ton of jobs to the area, and where it will be situated it shouldn’t have an immediate effect on the aesthetic of Jones County. We still have that small-town feel. And we love that, we are proud of that. But we also know that there’s a need for jobs. And in doing this, it can bring that slower, steady, stable growth that Jones County needs.” MARKETING THE JONES COUNTY EXPERIENCE To showcase all that Jones County has to offer, efforts 6 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 04