Gaston County, North Carolina

85 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 see every day along Interstate 85,” he adds. Promoting Gaston County as an ideal place for biking, riding, and paddling, Applegate notes that each of the municipalities ensures that their natural spaces are not only preserved but accessible for the public to utilize and enjoy. “We have a lot of preservation and conservation efforts going on in the county because there are so many great natural spaces. We work pretty closely with the Catawba River Keeper Foundation, and the Catawba Land Conservancy to make sure that we’re setting aside and maintaining, for posterity and quality of life for all of our visitors and residents, these great natural spaces,” he asserts As part of a planned approach to growth, Gaston County is focused on industrial recruitment. Matthew Rhoten, Deputy County Manager relays, “We’ve been very successful in that. It’s been a really big focus of Gaston County to create jobs that have income levels that are at or above the country average. We’ve had a lot of investment from very large companies and a lot of North American headquarters have located here.” After the initial success of its Gaston Technology Park, the county was inspired to bring about the development of a second park, Apple Creek Corporate Center, which sold 5 of its 10 available sites before the development was complete. Alicia Summey Economic Development Commission Director of Operations, shares, “These land development activities led to recruiting dozens of companies over time and have helped rebuild the county’s economy after the decline of the textile industry. Allowing these business park developments has diversified the economy and allowed some of our smaller municipalities to gain large utility customers, and grow the overall tax base at the county and municipal levels.”