It should have been a slam-dunk and in the end it was.

But historical tendencies caused more than a few to worry that the Southampton County Board of Supervisors would find a way to run off a potential investor in Virginia-based AMAC.

The company, which will build an asphalt and concrete plant on 20 acres on U.S. Route 460 west of Ivor, had indicated that any delay in approving the rezoning request would be a deal killer.

Had there been any sort of delay, AMAC would have been well justified in walking away, which the company promised.

But because everyone did his part, it never became necessary.

There is much credit to go around. AMAC’s owners showed a willingness to operate with more transparency than several previous potential investors.

The leadership team at Franklin-Southampton Economic Development Inc. did a tremendous job in proactively working with the county planning commission and the board of supervisors to identify and mitigate potential areas of concern.

And neither the board of supervisors nor the planning commission got in the way by attempting to become a part of the process.

They kept things simple by merely helping to facilitate the process.

This is not the way business has always been done in Southampton County, but it’s the way it should be done.

Let this recent success be an example of what is possible when stakeholders work as a team for a common goal; we all win.