Elizabeth City leaders plan to use $400,000 in federal funding awarded on Tuesday to help purchase the Elizabeth City Shipyard property. But the city still needs to come up with the remainder of the money to complete the purchase.
Congressman Don Davis, D-N.C., was in town on Tuesday to present three federal checks totaling nearly $1.8 million. One of those checks was for $400,000 to help the city finally buy the shipyard property. The other two checks were for nearly $960,000 for the county’s planned nanofiltration upgrade to the Weeksville water plant, and the other for $440,000 for the Elizabeth City Police Department’s violent crimes reduction initiative.
Davis presented city officials with the $400,000 check for the Shipyard purchase at the shipyard property at 722 Riverside Avenue.
“When we talk about the future of northeastern North Carolina we understand the importance of creating opportunities,” Davis said.
When visiting with constituents across the 1st Congressional District, Davis said younger voters typically tell him the same thing.
“We just want real opportunities,” he said they tell him. “Young adults, young professionals are wanting real opportunities.”
Referring to the shipyard, Davis described it as “the foundation of a real opportunity.”
Mayor Kirk Rivers said Tuesday the city is still working to secure additional funding through grants and other external revenue sources, such as the state Legislature, since the $400,000 alone will not be enough to buy the shipyard property.
Rivers said he was confident the city will receive the necessary funds to help cover the purchase, as well as other expenses, including an environmental cleanup of the decades-old shipyard. Rivers said last Friday that city officials are closing in on finalizing a purchase deal for the property.
Elizabeth City has been eyeing the property as a site for future economic development for several years. The city last tried to buy the property in October 2019, when the city was set to receive $1 million in cleanup money in the 2019 state budget. But those funds were never appropriated because of the budget impasse between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-led General Assembly.
Pasquotank tax records show that the shipyard property is owned by Mary Hadley Griffin, whose son, Lloyd Griffin III, is a Pasquotank County commissioner. Lloyd Griffin declined to comment Tuesday when asked about the $400,000 federal check and the city’s latest effort to buy the property.
The shipyard presentation was the third stop on Davis’ morning-long visit.
The second stop was the Elizabeth City Police Department, where Davis was greeted by Chief Phil Webster, Deputy Chief James Avens, City Manager Montré Freeman, Rivers, several city councilors, police officers and other officials.
Webster said the department plans to use the $440,000 it received Tuesday to buy the four new pieces of crime-fighting equipment. One is a National Integrated Ballistic Information Network machine, which is a database used by police to enter brass shell casing evidence.
“It’s basically able to ballistically track that brass from one scene to the next and sort of integrate all the pieces of multiple crimes,” Webster said.
The department is also investing in an acoustic threat detection system, which could help police detect and locate shots fired.
“We’ve been talking about that for a while, about starting that,” Webster said. “So, we’re going to get 10 devices that we can go ahead and pilot that detection system and hopefully if it proves its worth, we can build on that system.”
The third piece of equipment is an automated fingerprint identification system, or AFIS.
“(It) will allow us to collect fingerprints in the field, enter them through an AFIS machine here and get real-time feedback if we have a potential criminal in custody or someone we’re looking at and trying to build that case one,” the chief said.
The last piece of gear the department will purchase is a mobile device extraction unit.
“And that’s essentially if we find a cell phone at a crime scene and we need to dump the information out of it, after we secure a warrant, then we can do that,” Webster said.
Davis began his morning by presenting Pasquotank commissioners a check for nearly $960,000. Charles Jordan, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, welcomed Davis and thanked him for his support.
“We really appreciate what you are doing for Pasquotank County,” Jordan told Davis. “We want to certainly improve our water and we’re working very hard to do that. You have made yourself a very important part of that project, and what we want to do this morning is say thank you very much.”
The checks Davis presented Tuesday were three of 15 he is awarding throughout the district this week. Their total value is $13.1 million in federal Community Project Funding.
Davis visited Spring Hope, Henderson, Nashville, Ayden and Grimesland on Monday. On Wednesday he presented checks in Robersonville, Greenville, Roanoke Rapids and Weldon. He wrapped his week with stops Thursday in Columbia, Roper and Plymouth.
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