Ayden’s planner helps growth move in the right direction

Ayden’s Stephen Smith, checking out sites at the new Montevallo subdivision here, is a man of many talents for the town, currently serving as planning and public works director. He recently was named assistant town manager.

Spotlight on Stephen Smith

Ayden’s planner helps growth move in the right direction

By Donna Marie Williams

Planning and public works director Stephen Smith has proudly served the town of Ayden for eight years.

His dedication, hard work and passion for his job have shone through, earning him a new title of assistant town manager.

Smith began his career with the town in 2014 starting as the community and economic development planner.

When the town hired economic developer Mallory Denham, Smith’s role shi ed solely to planning director.

Having earned his bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from East Carolina University, Smith accumulated years of experience prior to joining Ayden’s planning department.

He had worked in the private sector as a consultant with the Wooten Company, worked with a private engineering rm overseeing oodplain management and had a background working with local government planning since June 1997.

“I was looking to get back into local government and I was still living here. My family love the area … I saw the opening and applied and been here ever since,” Smith said, adding he was originally from New Bern before moving to Greenville.

GROWING RESPONSIBILITIES

As planning director, Smith oversees the town’s planning department, which directs zoning and all issues related to land development.

“I’m pretty much responsible for reviewing subdivisions, the town’s UDO (uni ed development ordinance), the town’s land use plan, overseeing the code enforcement activities, stormwater … really anything land development-related kind of funnels through the planning department,” Smith said.

In September 2021, Smith was given more responsibility when he was asked by Ayden’s Board of Commissioners to serve as the interim public works director when

the former director le for employment elsewhere. In April, commissioners elected to merge the two positions into one with Smith taking on both roles permanently.

“I like the town. I like everything about the town so I want to do anything and everything I can to help this town move forward. at’s what needed to be done, so I gladly stepped up into that role,” Smith said of taking on the extra duties.

“Everybody was hopeful — at least in the beginning — that we may nd somebody to ll that role full-time, but I think — over the last eight months under my management — the board thought that it would be a better idea just to have me continue in that role.”

As public works director, Smith oversees the town’s electric, sewer and street sanitation departments as well as the central garage, town’s warehouse and building department.

“It’s been a challenge trying to juggle planning while also being asked to lead the public works departments. As overall manager of those departments as well as the central garage, our warehousing and buildings department, there’s a lot of moving pieces. All of our operations down here are intertwined. When you think of planning, you think of landuse, but you also know that planning is related to electricity and water and sewer. You must have those for development, so it’s all intertwined,” Smith said.

“It wasn’t a hard transition. It was just a little challenging at times with the growth, trying to manage it from both sides. e sta has made the transition easier, Smith said.

“We’ve got great superintendents in our electric water and sewer and street sanitation departments. We have a great sta in place, so it really makes the job a whole lot easier when you have great people working for you.”

Smith is proud of how far Ayden has come since he began working with the town.

“One of the biggest challenges when I rst started was … there was little to no growth in the county as a whole. Growth was kind of stagnant. I think we were still in recovery from a huge building boom in the mid-2000s and then it kind of tapered o ,” Smith said.

“ e town and Board of Commissioners worked hard for the last 15 years to put preparations in place for growth. We have been lucky that the town board and the past managers had the foresight to put those things in place to be ready for what we’re seeing now. ankfully that’s changed now, and we’ve probably got more growth than we can handle right now, which is a good thing.” e recent growth has added new challenges for Smith and the town.

“We’ve been wanting it and now we’ve got it and it’s just a challenge to try and keep all these di erent developments,” Smith said, adding the town is in the preliminary development process for more than 1,200 subdivision lots and is establishing a sanitary sewer line down a portion of N.C. 102.

“ ese lots are in various stages, so it’s just the organization of all that development and trying to meet the needs of those developers while also making sure that you know the best interest of the town is looked out for.”

Smith and Mallory Denham, right, Ayden’s economic developer, are excited about the growth the town is experiencing.

Smith said more than 1,200 residential lots currently are under development in town. GUIDING GROWTH

Keeping the town’s best interests in mind is just one of the many reasons why planning is important, Smith said.

“If we didn’t have planning or a land use plan, can you imagine what would be going on right now if people were trying to get developments in place without some type of regulation? Planning is very important. I know it’s hard for some folks. ey have their

land, and they want to do what they want with it. I get that, but you know it just allows us to make sure that growth occurs in a sustainable way. You don’t want di erent uses that may or may not be compatible popping up right beside each other. With planning the whole intent is to have an orderly sustainable growth pattern.”

Smith is proud that growth has occurred throughout Ayden including in the east along N.C. 102, downtown and throughout the town’s limits.

“It’s not just one area … there’s a lot on the east, there’s a lot happening in town, but there’s pockets all throughout our jurisdiction. It’s not just concentrated in one area,” Smith said.

In past years, Ayden has seen several subdivisions take root along N.C. 102 and Ayden Golf Club Road. ese subdivisions will provide more than 800 homes for future and current Ayden residents. Downtown Ayden has also seen a surge with mural projects being completed as well as the town’s pocket park, located o Lee Street and behind Ayden Town Hall.

Several new businesses have also sprung out of the revital-

ization including Gwendy’s Goodies, which has served as an anchor for downtown, Smith said. Marvel’s restaurant, Yellow Flower Boutique and Kingdom Building Community Learning Center are among some of the many stores to open within the past years, alongside Gun’s Unlimited of Ayden,

Bum’s Restaurant, Andy’s

Grill and Langley’s Computer, which have served the Ayden community for years.

“ ere’s a lot of things happening downtown. For years, we had a ton of vacant buildings. e town board implemented a nonresidential building code and there were some things in there that kind of forced these property owners to do something. We’re nally seeing the bene ts of that; I think right now there might be four vacant properties out of all downtown now, which is really encouraging,” Smith said, adding Sam Jones, owner of Sam Jones Barbecue and Skylight Inn is opening a corporate o ce downtown, and that downtown will soon be home to a new hardware store.

“ ere’s a lot of things happening all over town. Ayden’s Housing Authority has purchased the old IGA grocery store and they’re turning that into a community center. at will serve South Ayden and all of Ayden. It will be a bene t to that part of town and all of town.”

Smith was among town o cials who worked on a project to bring the sewing and cra store Quilt Lizzy downtown, helping to secure grant funding, working with the new owner to renovate her building, and and transferring the property over to her.

“She’s doing very well,” Smith said. “She has a quilting store downstairs and upstairs is an event center. It’s a beautiful facility up there that can be rented out for weddings and receptions and parties.”

HOMETOWN FEEL

During emergencies, Smith can be found at the town’s Operation Center, ready and focused on hazard mitigation and providing directions. His background and experience also come handy.

“My background is in oodplain management and mitigation planning. e managers that have been here through my tenure have always looked to me during events. I do a lot of coordinating with Pitt County Emergency Management. ose guys are a lifeline when we’re dealing with emergencies,” Smith said, adding that the town has wonderful rst responders for emergencies and utility crews that will sleep at the Operations Center during events in case they are needed.

Floodplain management and hazard mitigation have long been point of interest for Smith.

“I cut my teeth coming out of school on ooding. I was working in Carteret County in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit and then I moved into Craven County’s planning department. ey were right in the midst of Hurricane Floyd recovery … I worked for Pitt County in August of 2000 as the oodplain manager and that was right on the heels of Floyd, so we were dealing with a massive buyout program throughout the county and that’s when I kind of got into oodplain management,” Smith said.

Apart from being a town employee, Smith volunteers with the town’s annual BBQ festival. He serves as the organizer of the Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned contest that is the festival’s centerpiece.

“It’s the coolest thing I do … I like barbecue, grilling and smoking meat. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but it’s something that draws people to our downtown,” Smith said early in May.

“I’m focused on the contest side but it’s a neat new thing that we’re trying. It seems to be working OK. We had the two-year COVID hiatus, so this would be the rst one back a er two years. We’re excited to see how well this one turns out.” e event was May 20-21.

He and his wife, Amy, have two children — Emily and Jacob. He attends Emily’s travel volleyball games, likes to golf, grill and visit the beach.

As assistant manager, Smith’s role will remain the same, but additional duties of assisting the town manager will be added to his list. In time, he sees the town hiring another employee solely as the planning director due to the amount of growth the town has received.

“It’s an exciting time for the town. ere’s always something going on with development. We’re looking at a 10-year build out. It’s going to be constant work for the next 10 years,” Smith said.

Every day Smith continues to learn new things and his passion and his love for his job grows. He is thankful for all the town employees and people in the town.

“Ayden just has this hometown feel. I worked for the county, and you really didn’t get that because our jurisdiction was kind of the rural parts of the county. It’s all spread out, where here everything is so close you don’t have to go far to do anything in town,” Smith said.

“ e people that I work with are an asset that the town has. e employees here are very dedicated to the town and to the jobs that they do. at’s another thing that I enjoy about working here. When you love what you do, it makes it easier to deal with all the challenges.”