Economic Development Matters: Commissioners January 20, 2026
Rebranding of Pelham Business Park, Incentives, & Loans
Several matters related to economic development came up during the January 20th meeting of the Caswell County Board of Commissioners.
Branding of Local Business and Industrial Parks
The Board of Commissioners recently directed Ken Bowman to move forward with actively marketing the Pelham Business Business park. Bowman is under contract with the county to provide economic development services.
Bowman highlighted frequent inconsistencies in how the county refers to the property, using Pelham Industrial Park and Pelham Business Park interchangeably, and asked that the Board consider settling on a name that reflected the county's longterm economic development and marketing objectives.
To launch that discussion, Bowman and County Manager Whitaker have asked the Commissioners to consider the name, Caswell Commerce Park.
When considering the list of identified advantages and disadvantages that accompanied the request, the Commissioners zeroed in quickly on the following:
- How much would rebranding cost? (Staff estimated minimal cost and no real loss since there had been minimum investment in branding efforts. Costs would only be incurred if the Board chose to change the legal name of the park, but they could update the public "doing business as" identify without that costly step.)
- How would the Pelham community feel about a rebranding?
- How would that impact the branding of the Yanceyville Business Park?
Board Chair Tim Yarbrough asked that Commissioners consider the matter and place it on their February 2nd agenda for discussion.
Payment of Incentives
The Board unanimously authorized the release of $14,000 in previously allocated funding to honor a local incentive agreement with the NC Department of Commerce and Riverside Furniture, an Arkansas-based company that operates a warehouse facility on NC Hwy 87 southwest corner of Caswell County. The agreement requires a county match related to state OneNC and Reuse grants.
The $14,000 is a prorated match for incentives promised to the company for meeting certain targets related to job creation. Last year, Riverside received an extension, hoping to meet the original target, but ultimately fell short. The NC Department of Commerce calculated a prorated incentive amount based on the target that were met by Riverside, arriving at a total incentive of $56,000. The NC Department of Commerce will cover $42,000 of that while the county will provide $14,000. The county had originally anticipated its cost to be $25,000.
Loan Interest Relief Consideration
Eresterine Guidry of NorAg Technology, a chemical manufacturing and distribution company located in the Pelham Business/Industrial Park addressed the commissioners during public comments to request consideration of a request to relieve the company of $50,000 in interest still owed on a loan. Guidry shared that NorAg had already paid off the principal, or original amount borrowed, but that it would present a significant hardship for the company if they were required to pay the $50,000 still owed in interest.
Guidry highlighted the fact that the family-owned business was the first, and for a long time the only, business located in the Pelham Business/Industrial Park and that they had been active members of the Caswell County Chamber of Commerce, including service on the board and working committees. She explained to the Board that this had been a longstanding issue raised with multiple former county managers and asked that the county provide some process for consideration of NorAg's request.
It is the policy of the Caswell County Board of Commissioners to not comment or take action within the same meeting on public comments made during that meeting.
