PRINCEVILLE — “If the governor walks through that door right now and says, ‘What do you need?’ What would you say?” Princeville Mayor Bobbie Jones asked a group of his constituents.
In the last quarter century, Princeville — a town of fewer than 1,300 people in Edgecombe County — has suffered from two 100-year floods on the Tar River. First was flooding following the devastating Hurricane Floyd in 1999, then came Matthew in 2016. Both wrought extensive damage on Princeville’s downtown, which essentially sits in a bowl next to the river.
Some citizens recalled being able to reach up and touch traffic lights while navigating upwards of 20 feet of flood waters in boats.
Neither the town’s dwindling population, which was cut nearly in half after each flood, nor its flood-mitigation infrastructure has fully recovered. But with the recent realization of a $11.2 million FEMA grant and some additional state and federal funding, Jones — formerly a Marine and high school principal — hoped to inspire the town’s residents to think big about Princeville’s future.
On a gray, rainy July evening in Princeville, Jones orchestrated an open-discussion style meeting with his fellow commissioners and about 20 of the town’s residents. Three large notepads propped up on easels sat adjacent to Jones, each with labels penned with ink marker. They represented “5-Year,” “10-Year” and “20-Year” plans.
The purpose of the meeting was for residents to give their input on what services and projects they’d like the town to prioritize as part of its ongoing disaster recovery and resiliency efforts. It was the second meeting of that type in a month.
The ideas were wide-ranging in both scope and feasibility. They included a town clean-up initiative, increased sidewalk access, a police department and a go-kart track.
Jones scribbled each suggestion down on a sticky note and placed it under the appropriate label.
Founded as Freedom Hill in 1865 and chartered 20 years later under its current name, Princeville purports to be the oldest town in America chartered by freed slaves, a claim to fame that’s incorporated into the town seal.
That history is a source of pride for many residents, including former commissioner Linda Joyner. At the meeting she advocated for a development strategy that would preserve and honor the town’s history. Some of her top priorities were the restoration of two historical buildings and the reopening of a museum that’s been shuttered since being flooded by Matthew.
“If we keep our ancestors in our mind and our children in our view, we’ll hit the mark,” Joyner said.
Princeville’s tax base is too small to support much of its infrastructure needs, so it relies mostly on grant money from state and federal agencies to fund its flood mitigation efforts.
Jones hopes to one day build Princeville into a more self-sufficient community, starting by expanding the town and relocating housing and essential services to higher ground. But he can only move as fast as the multiple levels of government bureaucracies he must work through.
In the year-and-a-half following Matthew, Princeville worked with the state to purchase an adjacent, 53-acre parcel of land that sits outside the floodplain.
In 2018, the town collaborated with UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University to design a plan for that land, which would include housing, a fire station and a municipal services building.
A year later, Jones declared the land ready for development, yet for the next four years it would remain untouched due to a lack of funding.
Now, with a long-awaited grant award letter having arrived and the first ceremonial shovel set to be put in the ground, Princeville leaders hope they can finally move past the planning phase and into the construction phase of its resiliency and recovery plan.
“When you’re working with all those types of governments and you’re talking about grant funding, you make sure all the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed,” Jones told Carolina Public Press.
“Because, if not, they’ll request a refund, and we don’t have the resources to refund what we don’t have yet.”
Multiple projects stuck in limbo
Princeville first applied for a FEMA grant to pay for the development of its 53-acre plot in 2020 as part of the agency’s freshly-announced Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.
The following summer, FEMA announced that Princeville’s application was “selected for further review.” Not until three years later did the town receive an award letter approving the $11.2 million grant.
“I was surprised,” Jones said. “I thought it was a second grant.”
FEMA representatives told CPP that once applications are selected for further review, the projects are “carried out in two complex phases” in a lengthy vetting process. The first phase maps out engineering and design deliverables, which was completed in January of this year.
Approving the grant award marks the start of the project’s second phase.
Even with the available money, some of what the town had originally hoped to build on the 53-acre site has been nixed because of budgeting constraints. Jones told CPP the planned fire department and municipal building are “on standby.”
“The goal is (that) once we develop it, we will have developers that have already expressed interest to go ahead and add other things that we are in desperate need of,” he said.
A major part of the development plan is to build low-cost and subsidized housing on the site, but Daisy Staton, president of the Princeville Housing Authority, told CPP that the process has been so slow that she’s not sure what the plan looks like at this point.
Meanwhile, the town is awaiting a decision from another government entity, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that will determine the future of a promised $39.6 million flood-mitigation project.
In 2019, Congress allocated the money for the construction of a levee extension, but that project was tabled last year after an impact study showed it might inadvertently redirect flood waters into Tarboro, whose downtown is directly across the river to the north of Princeville.
Dave Connolly, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told CPP in an email that the corps hasn’t yet determined how to move forward with the project, nor was there a timeline for making that decision.
“This particular project is complex and requires detailed analysis to ensure we deliver a project that not only protects Princeville but also does no harm elsewhere,” Connolly said.
Before any further actions can be taken, Michael Connor, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, must approve funding for a re-evaluation report that will explore alternative flood-mitigation infrastructure for Princeville. Jones met with Connor a couple months ago in an effort to speed up the process, but to this point no decision has been handed down by his office.
“That’s a major concern for us, that he has not given them the ‘OK’ to move forward,” Jones said.
State Sen. Kandie Smith, D-Pitt, who represents Princeville in the North Carolina legislature, said she shares the town’s frustrations over how long it’s taken to make progress, but acknowledged the collaboration between several entities at all levels of government make it difficult to move quickly.
Since last year, she’s been attending meetings between town officials and representatives of the various state and federal agencies involved in Princeville’s infrastructure projects.
“I don’t know why they can’t just get them all to just fit like (pieces) of a puzzle to work together, but nothing flows smooth,” Smith said.
What’s next for Princeville?
Despite years of setbacks, Jones still envisions a prosperous future for Princeville. Once the 53-acre site is developed, he thinks the town’s population could easily double.
That’s a bold prediction for a struggling town in a shrinking county.
Princeville’s population has fluctuated from about 1,600 in 1990 to fewer than 1,000 immediately after Hurricane Floyd. It peaked at approximately 2,000 people in 2010 and dropped back down to 1,250 in 2020. Edgecombe County’s population shrank 13.5 percent from 2010 to 2020.
But Jones pointed to the town’s historical and cultural significance as a factor that could attract tourists, and said its proximity to U.S. 64 and future Interstate 87 creates an opportunity to turn Princeville into a stop for travelers. That’s dependent on developers bringing in hotels and restaurants.
Jones also expressed hope for an economic upturn for Edgecombe County, citing a shovel-ready megasite 10 miles away that could bring many more jobs into the area in the near future. The Rocky Mount Telegram reported in April that the public-private organization that owns the site was “getting close” to landing a deal with a suitor.
“We want to offer (people) an opportunity to come live, work and play in the Town of Princeville,” Jones said.
The town purchased an additional 88 acres of land in 2019 adjacent to the 53-acre plot that could be similarly developed with the necessary funds. Jones told CPP the town is looking into grant opportunities from the Environmental Protection Agency to potentially build out that land.
But before any of that speculation can become a reality, the town must first focus on those crucial 53 acres. A groundbreaking ceremony for the plot is scheduled for later this month. Jones hopes the first buildings can be raised in a year’s time.
While the process has been frustratingly slow, and will likely continue to be so, Aug. 3 marked a small milestone towards meaningful progress.
“That’s the biggest part of any project — we’ve got to start,” Smith said. “And I think that’s gonna give the town hope.”
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