Key to Elizabeth City’s Success? Collaboration

Here's how local entities are working together to better the region.

By Kevin Litwin on April 17, 2024

Dana Rabon

Community, connect, collaborate, cultivate, celebrate – the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce uses these words as a roadmap to create and maintain a strong business community in Elizabeth City. But if you zoom out and look at the area as a whole, these words are also put into play across the region. 

“Collaboration is a key and powerful word whenever we all work together, bringing more minds and resources to the table,” says E. Kirk Rivers, mayor of Elizabeth City. “Recent collaboration has resulted in attracting several more companies and projects to our region.” 

Encouraging Growth in Elizabeth City

One example that can be traced back to collaboration is the growth around the Tanglewood Corridor. This is where Sentara Health is building a new, 88-bed hospital and recently opened a medical office building. Plus, the Tanglewood area is seeing an increase in new business. 

Rivers mentions that an important thing to note is that companies interested in relocating are not always looking to settle into a specific city or county; they are looking for a region. 

“Settling in a region benefits more people, which is why we at the city often work with the county, chamber, economic development officials and even the state when trying to attract projects to our area,” he says. “Plus, regions also often include rural areas, and Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County have some beautiful tracts of land that are ideal for welcoming new businesses and industry.” 

Right now, the city, county, Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce and other entities are working on a project designed to bring more economic activity to the region. 

“We can’t announce [the details of the project] yet, but the city, county, chamber, airport and state are all involved to make this happen,” says Pasquotank County Commissioner Charles Jordan. “It is now in the hands of state legislators to put [this project] in their budget or not, and we even have a person in Raleigh working for us with the legislators to get this passed.” 

Jordan says other collaboration projects occurring for the good of the region include more apartments and subdivisions being built to handle population growth. 

“In addition, many people live here but work in nearby Virginia, so we are all working toward the goal of modernizing U.S. Highway 17 and having it evolve into the future Interstate 87,” he says. “Having the eventual interstate here is garnering interest from distributors and manufacturers that are now considering locating to our region.” 

Together Is Better 

Dana Rabon agrees that collaboration between many entities is moving Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County forward, and she should know. Rabon is the 2024 chairperson of the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce. 

“I see city and county officials all the time at chamber events like Business After Hours and ribbon cutting celebrations, and the city even has a representative who attends our board meetings to learn how the city can better serve the business community,” she says. 

Rabon is also a business owner in Elizabeth City, running DRCG Properties with her daughter, Carlee Golston. 

One of the company’s recent projects was buying and renovating the former PNC Bank building, turning it into Harbor Centre, and purchasing the neighboring Waterworks Building. Both are designed for retail and office tenants. 

“In addition, we opened a restaurant called SAGOS on the River and met with several local officials along the way, including Mayor Rivers, who provided great information to help us with our purchase and opening.” 

Rabon adds that she collaborated with other city officials on the restaurant plans, and she credits Deborah Malenfant with Elizabeth City Downtown Inc. for pointing her in the right direction to meet specific city officials and department heads. Malenfant is known for being a powerhouse of knowledge and advocacy for the downtown business district and a major supporter of the chamber and community. 

“Again, on the subject of collaboration, I also like that city, county, chamber and business officials attend many community festivals and events,” Rabon says. “These officials often get their faces out in public, letting residents know they are working for their good.”