DAC program could focus on Manteo waterfront

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice on January 29, 2020

Mayor Bobby Owens says the project will tie into the town waterfront. (Edward L. Mullins)

Earlier this month, the North Carolina Department of Commerce announced that Manteo is one of six communities that will participate in its Downtown Associate Community (DAC) program. Administered by the North Carolina Main Street and Rural Planning Center, the DAC program brings together a wide variety of community groups to find ways to highlight what a town has to offer.

Towns participating in the DAC program work with experts in the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center. The goal is to create sustainable economic growth for the town.

The DAC program requires a three-year commitment from the town during which time representatives from Manteo will work with specialists from the Main Street Center. What the town gets in return for their commitment is considerable expertise in how to bring the various pieces of a community together to create greater opportunity while focusing on heritage and history.

The DAC program looks at a wide variety of criteria for improving the overall feeling of the town, which could include everything from sidewalks to transportation to signage to building renovations. There is a requirement in the DAC guidelines calling for a liaison between the town and DAC that can be either a paid or volunteer position

The process of choosing which towns get to participate is very competitive and Manteo is one of just six towns selected. The others are Graham, Mebane, Murphy, Pilot Mountain and Zebulon.

The DAC will begin working with the town in the summer of this year. There are no specific plans at this point in time. That will come as the experts in their fields begin working with the town. There is, however, general agreement that the waterfront area of Manteo will be important to whatever decisions are made.

“It’s going to tie in with the waterfront. We’re not totally utilizing our waterfront to our biggest advantage,” Town Mayor Bobby Owens said.

For Town Manager James Ayers, the program seems tailored made for a town like Manteo.

“One of the key points that I liked about this program when I brought it to the table was it’s not just local government and business. It brings in local attractions. It brings in local residents. It brings in property owners,” he said. “The best way to have economic development is to find ways that support the local community and integrate it into the local community.”

“The way I understand it, they’re going to help us look at how all the different parts of our puzzle could work in better ways,” Jamie Anderson of Downtown Books said.

With the program’s emphasis on the history and heritage of the towns that are selected, Manteo seems like an ideal choice, Ayers said.

“Somebody who takes their family to see the Elizabeth II, they will experience that and continue to explore the history of the area. They’ll explore our waterfront, and the lighthouse, the maritime museum with its boatbuilding and boatbuilding heritage,” he noted.

According to Anderson, learning in January that Manteo had been selected was somewhat of a shock. “It was July that they actually came to town and met with us,” she said. “Over the months. I just forgot about it.”

The delay in making the decision was tied a state budget impasse in Raleigh. Until there was an approved budget, DAC officials could not say how many towns could participate or what level of commitment they could make.

That July meeting with DAC officials, though, seems to have been critical in Manteo’s selection for the program.

“When we met with them…we were really trying to sell Manteo to them. It was kind of a sales job on our end,” Anderson said. It seemed to have worked, according to Ayers.

“The lead representative, as she headed out, said to me was that the people here had a real passion for their community. I think that really resonated with them and helped get us to being selected as a DAC program member,” he said.

Aside from the Manteo waterfront, there are other areas of town that could become a focus of the project.

Anderson points to the Magnolia Pavilion as a facility that has never been fully utilized; she also thinks the open space between Poor Richard’s and the Waterfront Shops could be put to better use.

“What could we be doing with that space. Maybe it’s best used during our festivals or New Year’s Eve and things like that as a meeting area. Or an area with picnic tables where people could go after visiting a food stall and have some place to sit down,” she said.

It is, Mayor Owens acknowledges, the beginning of the process and there is a lot of work still to be done.

“It’s not just a cakewalk. It’s going to be a little bit complicated and hard. But we’ll achieve it,” he said.