Robbinsville – REVVED UP, a nonprofit group advocating economic development in Robbinsville, sponsored a fact-finding visit last week by architects, engineers and real-estate developers, to find opportunities and solutions to help the town prosper.
Construction Professionals Network Institute, or CPNI, toured Robbinsville and held a workshop with community leaders at Robbinsville United Methodist Church on Oct. 6.
The group plans to process the information and come back with recommendations.
CPNI
Construction Professionals Network Institute is a non-profit initiative focusing on construction-industry related projects and community service throughout North Carolina.
CPN of North Carolina, Inc., a non-profit construction industry membership organization, founded CPN Institute in 2006 to expand its mission of service to the construction industry and provide assistance to communities throughout North Carolina.
The CPN Institute was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in 2011 to focus on education and community services.
CPNI partners include NCGrowth, UNC School of Government, UNCG Department of Interior Architecture, NCSU College of Design – Community Design Initiative, NC Rural Center, UNC Kenan-Flagler School, Elon University Department of Environmental Sciences and UNCG Department of Social Work.
Current projects include Robbinsville, Plymouth and Hot Springs. Previous projects include Windsor, Ramseur, Cleveland County and the city of Shelby, Elkin, Siler City, Banner Elk, Maysville, Francisco, Pembroke, Erwin, Roseboro, Burnsville, Murfreesboro, Pilot Mountain, Scotland Neck, Mt. Gilead, Robbins, Liberty, Whiteville, Badin, Belhaven, Marvin, Bostic, Norwood and Cape Carteret.
Like Robbinsville, the initiative projects focus on small towns in mostly rural settings.
One example that sounds like it could be applied in Robbinsville was in Pilot Mountain.
Following workshops in Pilot Mountain in 2018, the institute recommended the downtown attract a brewery, encourage live/work/play development downtown, work on marketing and branding, make outdoor recreation an economic driver, and improve signage and wayfinding for downtown.
Steps for Pilot Mountain included creating a guide for starting and growing business that outlines local resources, permitting and zoning processes, tax policies and steps to get business loans; and create an inventory of all the downtown buildings with information to encourage private investment, including physical characteristics, rental rates, ownership, and identification of tax-delinquent properties and those near foreclosure, and disseminate that information to private developers.
The institute also advised the town to explore unconventional sources of funding by seeking corporate sponsorships from vested local businesses, grant making from local foundations and local lenders, and continue implementation of streetscape plan.
Construction Professionals Network Institute recommendations can produce results if followed, rather than filed on a shelf and forgotten like many similar efforts in Robbinsville over the years.
Pembroke – a 2016 institute project – started development a 36,000-square-foot, mixed-use project in 2018 featuring stores, restaurants and student apartment-style housing, with a total of 34 bedrooms. It will replace the old Pates Supply storefront on Union Chapel Road.
Local workshop
The workshop in Robbinsville attracted town and community leaders, including Robbinsville Board of Aldermen members Debbie Beasley and Brian Johnson and Mayor Shaun Adams, as well as real estate agents, educators, business owners and citizens interested in the town’s future development.
“We’re here to listen, collect ideas and provide resources,” said Mike Barnes, CPNI’s vice chairman.
What they heard was about a town where construction of Rodney Orr Bypass killed business on Main Street, where developable land is not for sale or prohibitively expensive, where Main Street buildings are dilapidated, where housing is in short supply, and where Main Street’s only remaining economic driver – the Graham County Courthouse – may be moved in the next few years.
But the town is not without its own assets and opportunities.
Tallulah Creek is an untapped opportunity for activities and creekside venues, the old Stanley Plant could become a recreation venue, the Snider Building is being converted into a museum, and Corridor K will improve highway access – to name a few.
One thing local participants advised the institute from recommending is for the town to begin zoning.
“The fastest way to turn the citizenry against you is zoning,” said Edd Satterfield, who attended the workshop.