By Miles Layton

EDENTON — A few things — more news about the grocery store, Town Hall releases its annual budget, Confederate memorial news and a quick bit about Monday’s Chowan County Commission meeting.

Yes, it appears to be a real grocery store — one that has a bakery and butcher’s counter.

According to Ches Chesson, executive director of Main Street Edenton, the long-discussed Edenton Village Shopping Center redevelopment is moving forward, with a grocery store anchor having signed a letter of intent.

Chesson made the announcement during last Tuesday’s Edenton Town Council meeting and followed up by email with additional details about the prospective tenant.

“They’re looking to infill at the Edenton shopping center,” Chesson wrote. “What I can share now is that they are a full service grocery store offering a scratch bakery and butcher services at all of their locations.”

Here’s what I can tell you — if the stars align as we all want, the store will be where Food Lion was once located in the shopping complex on North Broad Street — that space has been vacant for several years. Despite Food Lion moving to its new location on Virginia Road in the spring of 2016, the company continued to lease that 32,000+ square feet of space on North Broad Street until late 2020 when it decided not to renew its lease option. Though I’m not going to publish the figure, I remember the dollar amount that Food Lion paid for the rented space for years after it moved – wasn’t cheap. 

And from what I remember reporting on the matter, the property needed roof repairs and some work done – stuff you can’t do with WD-40 and duct tape.      

Back in 2023, an Arkansas bank, Today’s Bank of Fayetteville, invested $2.8 million to fix the shopping center’s roof and make other renovations to put the property on the market for commercial use, possibly a second grocery store — maybe one that doesn’t find it hard to keep Butter Pecan ice cream on the shelf so that you don’t have to drive to Hertford’s Food Lion instead after church on Sunday.  

Town of Edenton has been searching high and low to land a business in that location. There have been many suitors for that site over the years, so much so that the search for and rumors of possible tenants have been fodder on local social media for years.

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In other news, Town Hall released its proposed budget for 2026-27. There will be a special meeting of Council’s Finance Committee to review the proposed budget on Tuesday, June 2, at the Council Chamber Overflow Room (504 S. Broad St). The meeting will be scheduled from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Before you get the vapors, public comment is not allowed during committee meetings, so save your powder for the regular meetings.

Though it is early in the budget process, I don’t see a budget message that announces any changes in tax or fee rates — so I’m not going to speculate. But, being that it’s government, I’m naturally skeptical, particularly after reviewing the numbers and increases in spending, so I can’t wait to see what Town Hall has to say. Proposed budget available for download below.

In other business, as some folks say, the Chowan County Jail may be torn down at some point in the future when we start shipping naughty folks, maybe singing Johnny Cash’s Folson Prison Blues, to the Albemarle District Jail in Pasquotank County. Chowan’s jail may eventually become a much needed parking lot, according to several sources and past jail discussions.

Reliable rumor has it that the Confederate Memorial — that big statue collecting dust in a closet at the jail — may need to find another home other than the proposed Veterans Park location. According to state law, the memorial dedicated to the 47 souls from Chowan County who lost their lives during the War for Southern Independence, aka Civil War— trigger warning: click this Joan Baez version of the Night they drove old Dixie down— will have to be placed somewhere prominent and of equal value — not a cemetary and not kept in a closet indefinitely like Silent Sam. Patiently watching and waiting to see what happens to the Chowan Confederate memorial.

In other news, the Chowan County Commission will hold its regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, June 1, at the Chowan County Public Safety Center, located at 305 West Freemason Street in Edenton. See agenda below

Among the evening’s agenda items, the Board will consider a request from Wetzel Pyrotechnics and the Edenton Optimist Club to hold a fireworks display at Hayes Plantation on July 4, 2026. According to county officials, all required documentation has been submitted. Final inspection and approval of the display would be conducted by the county’s Fire Inspector/Fire Marshall on the day of the event. Please support the Edenton Optimist Club with a donation.

Commissioners will open a public hearing to receive community comment on the proposed Fiscal Year 2026-27 Chowan County Budget. Budget materials are available for public inspection on the Chowan County website and in the office of the County Manager.

The Board has scheduled one additional budget work session for Thursday, June 4 at 9:00 a.m. A final vote on the proposed budget is anticipated at the Board’s regular meeting on June 15 at 6:00 p.m.

The Board will also hold a public hearing on rezoning application CC-RZ-26-01, which seeks to rezone approximately 5.96 acres at 251 Cowpen Neck Road from CU-R-5 to A-1 Agricultural. Following the hearing, commissioners are expected to take action on the application.

Rounding out the agenda, the Board will consider approval of two change orders tied to the John A. Holmes High School construction project, both to be paid from project contingency funds. The first, totaling $38,922.95, covers a concrete slab for a greenhouse. The second, at $16,464, addresses additional fencing needs. Combined, the two change orders total $55,386.95.