The idea is to come up with something to help jump start the local economy. But in reality, economic development can take years, and millions in investments with no guarantees it will ever pay off.
In Northampton County along the Virginia border, an independent test track and automotive research and development site is open and ready for business. It's called NCCAR or the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research. Simon Cobb is the chief operating officer.
"We need to have a discreet presence and Northampton County gives us that. And being Tier One is an added bonus to develop this facility."
Tier One means the county is economically challenged. The 620 acre site off Interstate 95 is intended as a catalyst for needed jobs. More than 1 in 4 people live below the poverty line. And more and more residents according to the census are moving away.
Resident and NCCAR employee Sam True worries about the local economy.
("There's) not a lot of opportunity for our kids. They get educated, go somewhere else."
NCCAR was intended as a public private partnership. After a feasibility study, the NC General Assembly appropriated 7 and a half million dollars to launch the site in 2006 and gave another more than another 7 million until 2008.
Non profit groups like the NC Rural Center, Tobacco Trust Fund, US Department of Energy, the US Department of Transportation and the Golden Leaf Foundation together gave--another nearly 2 million dollars.
Gary Brown is Executive Director of the Northampton County Economic Development Corporation.
"I guess the greatest fear is that we would raise false expectations for immediate results."
Critics say the project has hardly been in the fast lane and wonder if it will ever really go.
Brown counters, "The opportunity for criticism is always there, people expect immediate results. The results have been positive, not grandiose."
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