Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

30 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 and build these houses,” Trent stresses. Part of Bertie County’s approach to development involves the repurposing of existing resources. When the Bertie County School District approached the County about options for the vacant Southwestern Early College Building, Wesson immediately saw an opportunity for adaptive reuse. The County purchased the complex and then signed a one hundred dollar per year ten- year lease with Carolina Rebuilding Ministry (CRM), a nonprofit that provides safety and health repairs for low-income homeowners in the tri- county region. CRM then provided space, to Good Shepard Food Pantry with a sublease agreement to cover utilities, a local organization dedicated to providing fresh foods to those in need. “It’s a matter of maintaining what you have and not just building new things a lot of times,” shares Wesson. A long-term approach is also considered, with facilities like the Bertie County Hospital (East Carolina Univ. Health System), which is unique for Infrastructure Developments and Strategic Location Another exciting project on the horizon is the approval of Interstate 87, which is set to become the state’s premier transportation project, connecting Raleigh to Virginia. While the funding is still pending, the approval has sparked considerable interest in Bertie County and surrounding areas. This development is poised to make the county a key transportation hub, strategically located between Raleigh, the Outer Banks, and the ports of Morehead City and Virginia. Trent recounts, “We’ve also talked to the DOT about putting an off-ramp there. We’re talking about putting in a rest area so we can advertise Bertie County Beach right there.” Other infrastructure investments include a 5 million dollar grant to redo all of the water lines in the western portion of the county. “That in turn attracts developers to come in to buy land to turn around