It’s been 10 months since Smithfield’s Town Council approved mixed-use zoning for the Grange at 10Main subdivision that Joseph Luter IV and his father, former Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph Luter III, are planning at the western edge of the town’s historic district.

But even with the Isle of Wight County Economic Development Authority’s recent vote agreeing to own a farmers market building that would anchor the Grange, there’s a lot of specifics to work out before any contracts are signed or any money changes hands.

“Some people would say it’s a done deal and that’s not the case,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Joel Acree.

That’s why county supervisors, after discussing the matter on Oct. 17, took no further action on its two-year-old commitment to partially fund the construction of the proposed market building.

In 2022, the Luters offered land and $1 million toward its construction conditioned on the town and county each agreeing to put up $1.4 million of the cost. Both governing bodies agreed to the Luters’ terms in October of that year.

Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin told the EDA at its Oct. 8 meeting that the town’s and county’s $2.8 million total would be deposited into its own “enterprise fund” much like the separate accounts Isle of Wight County maintains for public utilities and the EDA, but the supervisors and Town Council each have yet to pass an appropriations resolution actually transferring the money.

“I appreciate the EDA stepping up to the plate,” said Supervisor Renee Rountree, who in 2022 was a member of the Smithfield Town Council when it voted to agree to its $1.4 million share. “I love the EDA as an economic development tool in our toolkit.”

But she’s asking to see an updated plan for the building before she’ll vote to actually commit any funds as a supervisor.

County Administrator Randy Keaton said Transportation Coordinator Jamie Oliver is working with the Luters to match engineering drawings for the Grange to those for a county-administered, state-funded project that would widen Main Street from four lanes to six at the Route 10 intersection for which the Grange at 10Main is named. The $8.4 million road-widening project is included in the Virginia Department of Transportation’s six-year improvement plan, which shows construction beginning in fiscal year 2025-26.

A final design for the farmers market is “still a work in progress,” Keaton said.

Management of the market would remain under Smithfield’s and Isle of Wight’s shared tourism department, but there would need to be a separate signed agreement among the EDA, town and county specifying who would be responsible for maintenance, according to County Attorney Bobby Jones.

“Some of it boils down to who’s going to cut the grass,” Jones said.

A drawing dated Feb. 22 of this year showed up to six separate indoor retail spaces for rent, 48 covered farmers market vendor stalls and a restaurant that’s now proposed to be two stories rather than the one-story version shown on a 2023 conceptual plan at the time of the Grange’s rezoning vote.

Plans for the restaurant show bathrooms for the farmers market accessible from a central corridor between the vendor stalls. The entrance to the covered market area also now includes an office, likely for the market manager.