Haw River, North Carolina Town Manager Jeff Earp is on a mission: leading the town’s reinvention.
Earp, who has been the Haw River town manager for nine years, said the town survived the Great Recession and has turned the corner. Now, he said, it’s time to get down to business of redevelopment.
There was a time when corduroy was king in this former mill community. For decades, the Granite, Holt and Cora mills were central to the town’s well-being. Yet those mills now sit decrepit and long-abandoned.
But change, Earp said, is coming.
The town has hired an architecture firm to craft an application to get the mills on the National Register of Historic Places.
That way, potential developers could receive state and federal historic tax credits to fund renovation projects.
“I believe in 10 years, Haw River will be a town that, while keeping its small-town feel, has gone through a rebirth,” Earp said. “It will be a beautiful place to live and to enjoy recreational activities.”