There was a special guest at Monday night’s Sampson County Board of Commissioners meeting, one of the swine persuasion.
Extension Agent Eileen Coite brought along Sampson the Pig, actually a man in a costume, to help promote Sampson County Ag Day, which is scheduled for Saturday, March 21.
“It’s a very exciting year for us because also 2026 is, as you know, the anniversary of America,” Coite stated. “So we’re really celebrating this 250th anniversary, or birthday, however you want to call it. So we’re bringing agriculture and patriotism together, and we’ve got a new venue this year.”
The celebration of agriculture in the county will move from the Agri-Expo Center to the campus of Sampson Community College this year, utilizing its new Activity Center.
“It’s brought us a much bigger team together to put on this great event, and we are bringing back some of the favorites, like the pony rides, like the mechanical bull,” Coite shared, adding that the Air National Guard will be part of this year’s event, and they’ll be bringing along a flight simulator.
“We’re real excited, again, about Sampson Community College being the place, but also being so engaged and involved in putting on the event,” she said. “So I really want to give them kudos for all they’ve done.”
In addition to what’s already been mentioned, Ag Day will feature three live bands performing on an outdoor stage, as well as inside booths and vendors in the Activity Center.
Commissioner Lethia Lee, who once worked with the Extension Center, commented, “I just want to say how nice this is; it’s really a nice day, and it brings the community together, or just back together, and we realize what we have. I love it.”
Hayne Stretch Road subdivision approved
In other business at the commissioners’ March 2 meeting, Senior Planner Michelle Lance presented a preliminary plan for a proposed subdivision on Hayne Stretch Road.
Lance reported that the planning board had unanimously approved the plan at its February meeting, and recommended the commissioners approve it as well.
David Hales submitted the preliminary plan on behalf of the property owners, Henley and Betty Hales. “The subject parcel is located on Hayne Stretch Road in Little Coharie Township,” Lance explained. “It consists of 40.87 acres, and it is zoned residential agriculture. The proposal includes development of 31.4 acres into 19 single family residential lots; 7.32 of those acres will be preserved as common open space that will be maintained by the homeowners’ association. Utilities for the development consist of private wells and private septic systems, infrastructure plans includes two internal roads, designed with 50-foot public right-of-ways that both terminate in cul de sacs.”
She further shared that approximately nine acres of the property are within a regulated flood plain. “The submitted plan does account for those environmental concerns,” she pointed out.
Lance stated that the proposed plan complies with the subdivision regulations, and aligns with the rural residential agricultural designation of the land.
For more from the March county commissioners meeting, see Saturday’s Sampson Independent.
The commissioners will next meet for a special called board meeting on Monday, March 9, at 5 p.m. in the administrative conference room to begin budget discussions for the upcoming fiscal year, County Manager Allen Vann shared.