SMITHFIELD
Local and regional officials presented an optimistic view of Isle of Wight’s economic outlook during the county’s annual State of the County Breakfast, held on Tuesday morning in The Smithfield Center.

Speakers included Rick Weddle, president of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance; Michael Stallings, town manager of Windsor; and T. Carter Williams, mayor of Smithfield.

Weddle opened his remarks by quoting Isle of Wight County’s director of economic development, Tom Elder, who, in the county’s 2017 economic development annual report, said that Isle of Wight is extremely well positioned to attract new business growth in the industrial and retail sectors.

“We continue to market an abundance of land that is well positioned within the region and strategically located within 24 miles of the Port of Virginia, one of our greatest assets,” stated Elder. “Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park [near Windsor] offers an 82-acre permit-ready site to enhance the ability of developers to break ground on new projects in a timely and effective manner. To create additional permit-ready sites, infrastructure work continues at the park. We continue to be aggressive in our outreach efforts and workforce development initiatives and are leveraging relationships with our strategic partners on the local, regional and state levels to assist us in marketing the county’s incredible assets.”

Weddle added that the economic outlook of the greater Hampton Roads region, which includes Isle of Wight County, is also looking up.

“After 129 months, the Hampton Roads economy has returned to its 2007 peak employment level,” Weddle said.

For the Town of Windsor, Stallings highlighted the ongoing renovations to its Windsor Town Center, which was formerly the Windsor Middle School gym. The center, he said, will become a place where everyone in the community can come to hold events. Interior renovations began in April and are expected to be complete by September.

Stallings also highlighted the town’s installation of three disk golf baskets on a five-acre plot of land adjacent to its police station, which will eventually be used as the site of a new town hall. The disk golf baskets, he said, were added so that residents are able to get some use out of the property while the town saves money for the town hall project.

The final highlight Stallings gave was the town’s upcoming all-day Fourth of July celebration and the in-progress summer concert series, the next of which will be on Aug. 3.

For the Town of Smithfield, Williams highlighted the town’s progress in demolishing Pinewood Heights and relocating the residents of that community. Once demolition is complete, the site will be turned into an industrial park.

Additional upcoming Smithfield projects the mayor mentioned were the repaving of Main Street and the creation of a public boat launch at Clontz Park, which is still in the bidding phase.

Williams also highlighted the town’s progress in constructing the Luter Sports Complex, which he expects to be open by this fall. The Sports Complex will serve as the new location for the Isle of Wight-Surry Relay for Life.

He concluded by announcing that the Smithfield Town Council would likely approve an employment contract for a new town manager later that evening. The Isle of Wight-Smithfield-Windsor Chamber of Commerce then presented a resolution of appreciation to retiring Smithfield Town Manager Peter Stephenson.