Advisory committee agrees to nominate two Beaufort County tracts for Opportunity Zone 2.0

Susan Squires, economic development staff, reviewed the Opportunity Zone 2.0 eligibility criteria and seven Beaufort County census tracts on May 28. "The purpose of today’s discussion is to review Beaufort County’s eligible census tracts and consider which areas may be the strongest candidates for Opportunity Zone 2.0 submission," Squires said, explaining that the revised program lowers the income threshold and will reduce the number of qualifying tracts statewide.

Squires described each tract's qualifying features, including high poverty rates and low median family income for tracts such as 9301.02 (Belhaven) and industrial assets in tracts 9302 and 9308. She noted that tract 9304 includes part of the City of Washington and the airport area. Committee members discussed nomination strategy and the state selection process, which will limit North Carolina to about 202 final nominations out of more than 800 eligible tracts nationally. After discussion, the committee reached agreement to nominate census tract 9310.02 (Chocowinity Industrial Corridor) and census tract 9308 (Richland Township, which contains the Aurora Industrial Park) for submission to the state for Opportunity Zone 2.0 consideration.

Mayor Curt Hendrix, representing Aurora, urged nomination to secure tax incentives and spur local job growth. The committee did not record a formal roll-call vote in the transcript; members were asked to provide any additional materials to staff for the formal nomination process. Next steps: staff will prepare the nomination materials for submittal to the state per committee direction.