Essay Responses
for
Edenton, NC’s application to be become a
North Carolina Certified Retirement Community
What follows are answers to questions raised by the Eligibility Guidelines for the CRCP and is
submitted on behalf of the Edenton, NC application. To avoid repetition and to make the story
clearer, the essay integrates responses to the questions.
Background:
The Town of Edenton has long been concerned about attracting retirees and has historically been
very successful, given the size of the community and the resources available to promote
retirement to Chowan County. In fact, the Town had been so successful that shortly before the
recession in housing, new building developments had been proposed for the construction of
dominantly retiree housing that would have resulted in doubling the size of Edenton, now
numbered at 5004 residents.
The recession in housing not just slowed but absolutely stopped __#_ developments that would
have added around _#__ housing units within the permitting area of the Town. It also stopped
local resale of existing housing because potential retirees in other communities found it difficult
to sell their existing housing.
Motivated by that reduction in new retirees relocating to Edenton, the community started seeking
ways to be prepared for the time when the economy returned to a more traditional health.
Happily, housing prices in our target market areas are beginning to recover and retirees are again
looking at relocation options. Further, Edenton naturally has most of the attributes the modern
retiree seeks in finding a new community. The challenge is to make sure they are aware of our
story.
The Opportunity:
To capture the opportunity anticipated by the turnaround of the economy, the Town, County and
private sector sought ways to maximize the visibility and assets of the area. After months of
deliberations, an organization, The Edenton Chowan Partnership, Inc., was created to harness
those opportunities.
The Partnership is a 501 (c)(3) composed of three equal partners: the Town of Edenton’s
government, Chowan County’s government and the private sector. The Town’s Mayor names 3
members of the Board, as does the County Commission and the remaining slots are nominated
by the private sector. Each of the three partners contributes an equal share toward the financial
stability of the organization – now roughly $40,000 per year each. A part-time Executive
Director manages the day-to-day operations of the Partnership.
Following an extensive, disciplined process, the Partnership defined three strategic goals to
address short term, middle range and longer-termed development of the community to guarantee
its future vitality for existing and potential residents.
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The first goal of the Partnership is to attract more tourists and retirees. It is recognized that this
is the paramount strategic goal because visitors are tourist before they think about becoming
retirees. Retirees contribute greatly to a community by creating construction jobs, sustaining
restaurants and shops, providing the demand that justifies doctors, quality health care and
hospitals and retirees make fewer demands on local infrastructure. National statistics indicate
each retiree rooftop generates anywhere from one to five permanent jobs. Those jobs will be of
more skilled levels than the jobs created by tourism, but they create a symbiotic relationship that
makes the community more sustainable and viable.
To fulfill the second goal, the Partnership is placing emphasis on economic development that is
consistent with what a small, rural community can develop. Because of the strong agricultural
and aquaculture history of the area, great emphasis is placed on food production and processing
as well as the transportation infrastructure provided by the Albemarle Sound. Modern broadband
technologies also open avenues for advanced-skills job creation, which is being pursued.
The Partnership’s longest-termed goal is to create an environment where local young people will
get a great education and be motivated to remain in the community, as opposed to relocating to
urban areas. The Partnership works closely with the County School System as well as the
College of the Albemarle in fulfilling that objective.
In other words, retirement living is a foundation-level strategic imperative for Edenton to prosper
and the community has a well-established mechanism for implementing that strategy.
Getting into the Weeds:
To insure the Partnership’s retiree attraction efforts are complementary and not duplicative of
other efforts, great care was taken to be sure there is full coordination with the Chowan County
Tourism Development Authority (the TDA is a County government entity funded by occupancy
tax revenues). That coordination extends to the Edenton Historical Commission (the EHC is a
state-created, not-for-profit that is dedicated to education and preservation of the rich history of
Edenton and Chowan County with offices in the Penelope Barker House, which also serves as
the community’s Welcome Center). The Partnership efforts also extend to the Cupola House
Association (keepers of one of the nation’s most important 18th century museum houses) and
other not-for-profits such as the Chowan Arts Council.
Critically, the cooperation with these groups is not just a hypothetical exercise or an expression
of good intentions; it is a fully integrated and institutionalized effort. Members of the Boards of
the TDA, EHC and leaders of the Cupola House Association serve on their respective boards and
simultaneously in the leadership of the Partnership. These same leaders are also highly
integrated with the work of the Historic Edenton State Historic Site (a state-funded and operated
site managing the 1767 Courthouse, the Iredell House and the Roanoke River Lighthouse).
The resulting cross-pollination of strategic plans, information exchange and effort means little
energy is lost to duplication, disagreement or counterproductive endeavors. Instead, the
Partnership’s support of the Town’s yearlong celebration of its 300th Anniversary was
complemented by events created and promoted by the Edenton Historical Commission and the
Cupola House Association with full cooperation from leaders of the state historic site.
The evidence of this cooperation was illustrated by the May 18th visit of Governor McCrory and
members of his cabinet celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Crown’s naming of the first
governor of North Carolina. The event featured reenactments of the boat arrival of Governor
Eden, welcomed by Governor McCrory, celebrations on the 1767 Courthouse Green and a more
formal event at historic Hayes Farm involving the leadership of the Town of Edenton, the
Chowan County Bord of Commissioners, the Board of the Partnership and the leadership of the
Edenton Historical Commission and the Cupola House Association, as well as Secretary Kluttz
and other officials of the Department of Cultural Resources, the departmental overseers of the
Historic Edenton State historic Site.
The event also illustrates the integration of the local school system, the governments of the Town
and County and the not-for-profit organizations, as well as the local newspaper. One example
was a contest created by the Edenton Historical Commission to award $300 prizes to a winning
student from each school, and an adult from the community, in a essays contest about the historic
significance of the area. Each school, working with an Essay Readers Panel that included the
local newspaper editor, identified an essay winner and the Governor awarded the prices at the
May 18th event at the Courthouse.
The point made by this experience illustrates that long before a final decision had been made to
seek Certified Retirement Community status under the CRCP, Edenton had a well-established
history of integration of effort and cooperation in promoting the assets of the community to
retirees. It was therefore no surprise that once the Edenton Town Council made the formal
decision to apply for certification under the CRCP that it would also authorize the established
Edenton Chowan Partnership to act as the formation and implementation committee of that
program.
Next Steps:
One of the parallel projects that combined the cooperative approach described above was the
TDA’s filing of a grant application with the Golden LEAF Foundation. In conjunction with the
TDA staff and with the support of the Partnership, a member of the TDA board, who also served
as the Chairman of the Edenton Historic Commission and a member of the Partnership’s Board,
drafted the application. The Foundation Board reviewed and granted the Chowan County TDA
$150,000 over a two-year period to pursue the goal of attracting more tourist and retirees to the
county.
Building on the long-term experience of the staff of the TDA, and supported by the
administrative resources of the county, TDA board members have researched options for best
promoting Edenton and Chowan County to potential retirees. The marketing plan under
development is designed to reach potential retirees in the northern communities that have
traditionally supplied our retirees: e.g. Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, New York, Vermont, etc. Significant promotional effort has already been committed by
the TDA and will be complemented and made more powerful by Edenton’s certification as a
North Carolina Retirement Community.
The TDA, the Edenton Historical Commission and the Partnership jointly provided the Town
with the funds that accompany this application. They did so recognizing that such a certification
fully complements their individual and collective strategic plans. Over the long-term the
community, with the Partnership acting as the implementing committee, will maximize the
Certified Retirement Community status for the benefit of North Carolina and Edenton.
Programs already underway to identity potential obstacles to construction of more retiree
housing, such as connection fees and land transfer fees, are being investigated. A joint effort to
create what is being called a Walking Museum will enable visitors and retirees with an unusual
opportunity to study the colonial history of the area beyond the constraining confines of a walled
museum. And a new joint project will provide way-finding signs to help visitors find and
identify and learn about the many assets of the area.
As a complementary part of the plan, the Partnership recently completed the first phase of
creating a web presence that places emphasis on retirement living in Edenton and Chowan
County. This effort complements the long-standing web presence of the TDA that emphasizes
tourism. Once designated a Certified Retirement Community, the Partnership and the TDA will
have additional credibility in promoting Edenton and Chowan County. Certification will give
Edenton a “seal of approval” and further encourage potential retirees to study the options of
living in what Forbes.com called “one of America’s prettiest towns.”
Another aspect of the Partnership’s web site, as well as the TDA’s, is to connect potential
retirees with real estate brokers. Any potential retiree seeking information about the community
will get fast service from the non-profits as well as the commercial entitles. They will be shown
around the town via the Welcome Center and the Town-provided Trolley Tour bus and offered
waterfront tours via a new boat tour operation set to open this spring. They will be followed and
contacted via the Edenton Historical Commission’s monthly newsletter (to around 4,000 readers)
about events in Edenton and periodic email newsletters from the Commission and the TDA,
which also provides relocation information. As the program develops, more structure will be
added to guarantee that visitors see Edenton’s best foot and know how to become part of this
community.
The bottom Line:
Once granted Certified Retirement Community status, Edenton and its supporting partners are
ready, willing and able to attract and communicate with potential retirees. Those retirees will be
exposed to a unique community filled with 300-year old history whose leaders helped create a
nation and a state, as outlined by the new book: The King’s Trouble Makers: Edenton’s Role in
Creating a Nation and State. The book also reflects the cooperative effort of the community. It
was created by the Edenton Historical Commission and jointly funded with the Town of Edenton
and is being promoted by the TDA and merchants around the community.
Potential retirees will find in the book, the people they meet on the street and in shops and
restaurants that this is a welcoming community where people work together and make
newcomers part of the community. Edenton is truly a community worthy of being designated a
Certified Retirement Community.
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