County commissioners accepted the donation of .52 acres of land in Belhaven in Monday’s regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Commissioners.

The two parcels are located at the corner of U.S. Highway 264 and N.C. Highway 99 and abut what’s known as the Cooperage tract, which was donated to the county earlier this year.
County planning director Seth Laughlin said an agent of Wood Beasley, with Greenwood Acres, LLC, contacted the county last year about a potential donation; the only requirement was the county provide an appraisal of the site.

Laughlin said the current tax value of the land is $62,532, and it was appraised at $62,500.

Commissioners voted 7-0 to accept the donated land.

Previously, commissioners voted to move forward with a N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission partnership to construct a boat ramp and parking lot on the Cooperage tract. The two Greenwood Acres pieces would provide access to both U.S. 264 (Main Street) and N.C. 99, as well as provide additional area for future commercial development to complement the Wildlife Resources boating access site, Laughlin said.

Commissioner Hood Richardson asked if the site would be added to county’s existing Brownfields application for the Cooperage tract, considering a petroleum storage and distribution business was previously located on the property. Laughlin said environmental assessments were done on the site and it had been added to the existing county application to the EPA’s Brownfields program, a program that provides grants and assistance to help assess, clean up and reuse contaminated properties.

Wildlife Resources already operates a boating access site on Water Street in Belhaven, and at the June 6 commissioners’ meeting, a representative from Wildlife Resources said the existing boating access site would be closed once the larger site was up and running.

Commissioner Robert Belcher told the board that he understood the town could take over the existing Water Street ramp and modify it for kayak and canoe access.