Season 1 Episode 1 Blog post

We’re all well aware that North Carolina is growing and it’s no surprise Johnston County is growing right along with it. In fact, Business Insider recently dubbed Clayton as the fastest-growing city in the state. Historically known for its rich farmland, Johnston County is now recognized as a major player in the pharmaceutical industry and places like Clayton are gaining around five new residents a day. We learned more about what is driving this growth and its positive effects on the community when we connected with Johnston County’s Director of Economic Development Chris Johnson and County Commissioner and Chairman Butch Lawter, who also happens to be a Senior Delivery Officer at WithersRavenel, an Engingeering Consulting Firm with offices throughout the state of NC.  

“When I moved in 1990, the population of the county was around 80,000 people. Today, we’re probably pushing 250,000,” says Johnson, “and we’re adding between 8,000-12,000 across the county each year. So, we’re going to be north of 300,000 in the next 5-6 years.” Butch Lawter has witnessed similar growth and states that when he moved in 1993, six years before he was elected to the Town Council, Clayton only had about 5,000 people. 

What is driving this tremendous growth to the county? 

In addition to the county’s close proximity to the Triangle, Johnson explains it’s in large part due to the interstate highway systems including I-95, I-40, US-70 which is being transitioned into I-42, and the soon-to-be completed southern loop of I-540 which will make that proximity to the Triangle even closer. “We’re going to be 15 minutes closer to the airport, 15 minutes closer to Downtown, and 15 minutes closer to whatever industries are looking for.”  Lawter adds that future growth may attribute to this quicker drive, noting “people are going to take those 15 minutes of savings and drive further into Johnston County.”  

While growth is a positive thing, it does come without its challenges. As Lawter mentions, “of the 10 counties around Wake County, Johnston County has the largest agriculture production of business, but on the flip side, with the growth we’re seeing, we’re losing farmland at the fastest rate in North Carolina. 75% of our people say ‘we value open space and farmland’ and we’ve got to figure out how to balance that with the growth.” 

Another driver of growth to the county?  Education.  As Johnson mentions “I think we’ve got one of the finest education systems in the Triangle region as far as the local school system. Our citizens see the value in the public education system and have approved close to $800M in school bond construction. It has been a huge attraction for young families to move to the area.” The county’s investment in education doesn’t end at grade 12. They’ve got an excellent community college system and have positioned themselves to meet the growing needs of local industries through worker training. Currently, many students are utilizing the state-of-the-art workforce development center which is geared towards Biotechnology. The county commissioners have also identified close to $20M for another workforce development center in Four Oaks. “We feel we need to invest in our people,” says Lawter. “Two years ago we created what’s called the Johnston County Commissioners’ Promise, where if you graduate from a public high school in Johnston County, you’re eligible to go to JCC and have free tuition. I think there’s 700 students who are taking advantage of that program and we expect that to continue to grow.” Community colleges are no longer being seen as a place where you start your graduate journey before transferring to a four-year college. It’s instead becoming, especially in the case of Johnston Community College, the place where you can get the training you need to enter the workforce with zero debt.

Recently, a JOCO WORKS event, presented by Novo Nordisk and a collaboration with the Chambers of Commerce and existing industries in the county, took place where opportunities were spotlighted for eighth grade students. Every eighth grader in the county attended this event at the JCC campus and a multitude of industries were present for students to learn more about gaining hands-on experience to help them realize the many career paths available close to home. 

According to Johnson, “there’s a lot of companies who have come up to us and said ‘as soon as these students walk across their graduation stage as a 12th grader, we want them to receive their diploma and then be handed a job application because we want them to immediately come to work.”

Speaking of local industries, what is the secret sauce to getting businesses to Johnston County?  Johnson mentions “Our incentive policy that we've adopted in Johnston County is really a safety net for our citizens because it's all based on the new investment that companies bring into the community. And so it's just a percentage back. So, if they pay a certain amount of taxes, then they get a percentage back over a period of time. It’s really kind of a safety net for that to attract industry. Obviously, we work closely with the EDPNC and the funding and the support that The Governor’s office gives us, whether it's JDIG grants or OneNC. And then also there's worker training dollars that are through our community college system.” Most importantly, Johnson says “it's just having a good sit-down conversation with the business leaders and saying, ‘what is it that you're really looking for and how can we figure that out together?’ It’s really having that pro-business conversation and that relationship with the businesses and industry.”

With this growth of industry in Johnston County, how are the residents who value the county’s agricultural land availability fit into the equation? In 2022, the 10-year-old land use plan was updated to make sure the higher density growth was continuing in the towns, where infrastructure was already established to accommodate it, allowing the agricultural areas to stay protected. Lawter adds “if I'm in the development community, construction community, I don't think I see anything really slowing down. I think where the development is occurring, it may be more focused and less sprawled than it has been in the past. Our goal is to have that more focused where the resources are, where we can maximize the dollars spent for the houses there rather than go to acre lots everywhere.” 

Both Johnson and Lawter emphasize the importance of relationships when it comes to Johnston County’s success. In Johnson’s role, he is able to get a good look at what projects are considering North Carolina and he is able to help determine if Johnston County checks the boxes for these projects. When  checking the boxes, he believes “it goes back to the philosophy that the county commissioners of government should not compete against the private sector, but we should partner with the private sector. One of my roles is working with existing property owners and just going to them and saying, ‘what's your vision for your piece of property?’ And then trying to also work with the land use plan and figuring out, is this the right location for an industry?” Going ahead and doing this due diligence with different properties (if needed, getting it rezoned, recertified, etc.) allows Johnson to provide a list of opportunities for clients when they do call wanting a property in Johnston County.   Johnson also mentions “we welcome any and all investment, but, you know, we want to make sure that if we're incentivizing anything, it's going to be something that can move the needle and change the lives of our residents and give them an opportunity.” 

In addition to bringing new industries and companies to the area, Johnston County also wants to ensure existing ones are protected. This comes in the form of a new Building Reuse Program where, if these existing companies can grow jobs for the community, the county will be sure to assist with resources such as running fiber or helping with improvements to infrastructure. 

Other exciting opportunities happening in Johnston County include the addition of a PIO (Public Information Officer) and a parks office called the Parks and Open Space program.  Lawter was able to bring these initiatives from Clayton to his County Commissioner role and have them implemented at a county level. As Lawter mentions, with the PIO, “we can tell the story really before there is a story, and we can put informational things together to educate and put our message out there about the services we provide.” He adds that the Parks and Open Space program now has a director and assistant to facilitate the needs for recreation space. “We are connecting dots like we've never done before. We've purchased parkland - actually, we've purchased a couple - and we're working with our school system. When they buy property, we buy property next to it. Frankly, we do kind of like Wake County is doing and take advantage of that and co-locate facilities so that we can make the best use of it.”

The county has also implemented a better use of tax dollars for farmland by, rather than putting those dollars in the county’s general fund, they are now investing that money into farmland preservation opportunities. Lawter adds “we've used that now to apply for some grants, a half million dollars a year that we're putting out for the next three years.” Additionally, the county is also working to create one fire district. Right now, there are 23 and each one sets their own tax rate based on varying levels of service. The plan is to now implement an equal level of service throughout the county, and with the help of fire chiefs and emergency services staff, Lawter says “I think the people, particularly in the more rural areas, will see their level of service increase, probably dramatically, starting this year.”

Johnston County will also start to see growth in the transportation space as some of the general aviation service needs of the area expand to other regional airports due to RDU’s continued growth. Johnson remarks “whether it's the Jetport down in Lee County or Johnston or Franklin County, we've seen a tremendous amount of growth there. They’re projected there to add on additional hangar space. There's people that have five and six million dollar planes that don't want to be set outside.” The county is also experiencing continued growth within the residential and mixed-use development space with areas such as The Copper District, Flowers Plantation, Eastfield Development, and more. In addition to these developments, there’s also the increased value the relationship with the UNC Health Care System has brought to the county. The enhancement of these areas and services has helped keep residents closer to home. 

If you’re planning to visit Johnston County soon, be sure to check out the fun hotspots including the Crawford Cookshop and Revival 1869 in downtown Clayton, the Carolina Premium Outlets in Smithfield,  the JoCo Beer, Wine, and Shine Trail, the Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center, the Antique District in Selma, the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, and many more spots of which you can find via the Johnston County Visitors Bureau.

With this podcast being named Constructing the Carolinas, Johnson and Lawter were asked what construction type of opportunities they are looking more forward to. Johnson replies with “regionalism.” He adds “we only have a finite amount of water and sewer and natural resources, and for us to effectively grow our region and our community in Johnston County is that we have to look beyond not only towns working together, but then counties working together, and we've done a good job in Johnston County with the interlocal agreements with water and things of that nature.” Lawter, who agrees with Johnson, feels there’s another, very specific project that can be added to the area. “In Clayton, there was one thing that, through the 14 years I was there, that we always wanted. In fact, it was one of our goals when I was in Clayton. If we could get a Chick-fil-A in Clayton, somebody could be the king of Clayton for many decades.” Lawter adds “As our mayor would say in Clayton, every day is Sunday in Clayton because there's no Chick-fil-A.” 

Thank you so much to our guests, Butch Lawter Lauder and Chris Johnson. For more on what's going on in Johnston County, visit https://www.johnstonnc.com/.