Research & Insights
Study how land use and development decisions affect housing, infrastructure, economic opportunity, and the long-term strength of communities.
Business Alliance for a Sound Economy
Building a stronger region through informed decisions.
BASE brings research, practical policy solutions, and regional perspectives to the public conversations and decisions shaping southeastern North Carolina’s future growth and prosperity.
Why this work matters
Land use choices shape the region we become.
Southeastern North Carolina is one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions, home to both state ports, major military installations, and critical supply chain connections. Our continued prosperity depends on smart land use decisions that support opportunity and investment, meet our evolving needs, and preserve the qualities that make this region a desirable place to live, do business, and invest.
Land use decisions lay the foundation for our economic resilience and ability to realize the region’s future potential. They guide where housing, businesses, and industry can grow. Well-planned development creates the scale to support utility expansion and nearby commerce, while a broader commercial and industrial tax base can fund better services and ease homeowners’ property tax burden. The consequences of land use decisions reach beyond any single project, compound across a region, and last for generations.
BASE helps communities understand how these choices connect to their priorities and long-term prosperity. Through research, public education, and collaboration, we connect the dots, support more informed public dialogue on consequential decisions, and develop practical solutions grounded in evidence.
Our focus is turning that understanding into better public policy—creating opportunity today while strengthening the region for tomorrow.
A Region on the Rise
500K2003
785K+Today
1M+2040s · projected
BASE’s five-county footprint: Brunswick · New Hanover · Pender · Onslow · Carteret
North Carolina’s Coastal Boom
Southeastern North Carolina’s coastal bend is becoming one of the state’s most dynamic economic growth zones, as rising population, wealth migration, expanding industries, and greater economic scale transform the region into a diversified economic hub. Effective land use decisions are vital to realizing the full potential of this transformation—for those who call the region home today and those who will call it home tomorrow.
Big ideas. Practical solutions.
From insight to action.
A Strategic Approach
BASE connects evidence, public understanding, partnership, and policy engagement so communities can weigh land use choices with a clearer view of their wider effects.
Public Understanding
Make land use policy easier to understand and show how choices about place connect to costs, services, jobs, and quality of life.
Coalition Building
Forge alignment around the critical-path issues shaping our region’s future, leveraging collective influence for greater impact.
Policy Engagement
Transform big ideas into practical solutions through timely, constructive engagement that shapes better policy outcomes.
Where we focus
The decisions that
shape a region.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
Land use and development decisions have far-reaching consequences across communities and the wider region. BASE brings those connections into focus, helping communities balance priorities and harness growth to strengthen long-term prosperity and enhance quality of place.
Land Use & Development
Successful communities require land use plans and policies that support responsible growth and investment—protecting quality of life and place while creating opportunity, responding to market demand, and building a strong, sustainable tax base.
Housing & Affordability
A growing region requires housing options that respond to market conditions. Highly restrictive development policies distort markets, drive up the cost of living, and undermine economic health—handcuffing a region’s workforce and limiting opportunities for households to build wealth.
Infrastructure & Public Services
Smart land use and a growing tax base support sustained investment in transportation, utilities, stormwater management, and public services—leveraging growth to expand infrastructure and strengthen quality of life and place. State and local investment tools must evolve to match the scale of growth.
Economic Opportunity
Responsible land use and development unlock a region’s productive potential—creating wealth and opportunity while expanding the tax base. Sound policies harness that prosperity to ease pressure on taxpayers, meet infrastructure needs, and protect quality of life.
Who we are
Meeting the moment for southeastern North Carolina.
Southeastern North Carolina is experiencing extraordinary growth and opportunity—but also new headwinds. Too often, consequential decisions are being made without a shared understanding of the forces shaping our region or a coherent vision for where we are going.
Meeting this moment requires a data-informed, scientifically grounded understanding of how growth, land use, infrastructure, housing, economic development, and quality of life intersect. The choices we make today can harness growth to strengthen our communities—or allow its pressures to erode affordability, opportunity, and quality of life.
Our strategy and our growing alliance of businesses and associations are charting the path toward the future we know is possible.
We identify the big ideas that can harness growth to build a stronger region—and transform them into practical solutions that give policymakers real tools to make better decisions. Through research, education, and collective advocacy, we can accomplish more together than any single business, industry, or organization can alone—and realize the extraordinary potential of our region.
Membership
Join the alliance.
Business Membership
Put your business at the table on the issues shaping our region.
75+ strong and growing, BASE’s business members are at the center of the conversations and decisions shaping southeastern North Carolina’s future. Membership brings your business closer to the issues, leaders, and policy discussions that directly affect your success.
- INSIGHTMonthly Updates
Stay ahead of the issues shaping the region with timely updates, context, and analysis drawn from BASE’s engagement with local governments across southeastern North Carolina.
- ACCESSQuarterly Member Meetings | Special Events
Engage with leading political voices and policy thinkers, connect with industry leaders from across the region, and build relationships in a high-quality setting designed for meaningful conversation, client engagement, and new connections.
- ENGAGEMENTShape the Agenda
Bring your business insights and challenges directly into BASE’s work, helping shape policy priorities and advocacy around the real-world issues affecting your success.
Business & Individual Membership Levels
$10,000 level
Flagship Partner
Lead the way.
A premier business partnership critical to supporting the work of BASE.
- Flagship recognition
- Table sponsorship at quarterly member meetings
- Monthly advocacy updates
- VIP invitations
$5,000 level
Beacon Partner
Bring the path into focus.
The recommended minimum partnership level for businesses.
- Beacon recognition
- Four seats at quarterly member meetings
- Monthly advocacy updates
$3,000 level
Crew Partner
Join the cause.
A business membership that adds strength to our shared work.
- Two seats at quarterly member meetings
- Monthly advocacy updates
$1,000 level
Individual Professional
Stay connected.
Individual membership for professionals invested in our region’s future.
- One seat at quarterly member meetings
- Monthly advocacy updates
Let’s find the right fit for you. Contact BASE about membership for more information on each partnership level.
Association membership
Shared Priorities. Stronger Voices.
Greater Impact.
Setting a regional agenda and connecting association advocacy across southeastern North Carolina.
BASE brings the region’s leading business and industry associations together to set shared priorities, amplify their collective influence, and add a regional nexus to each association’s advocacy—creating a new bank of regional resources, expertise, and relationships that strengthens their work and delivers greater value to the members they serve.
Association memberships are tailored to the priorities and needs of each member organization.
Contact BASE About Association Membership
Our mission
To advance practical public policy that supports responsible growth, economic opportunity, and long-term prosperity across southeastern North Carolina—grounded in research, informed dialogue, and constructive engagement.
Our vision
A thriving southeastern North Carolina where growth and prosperity are harnessed to expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and sustain an exceptional quality of life and place.
Our leadership
Jerod Patterson, Ph.D.
President & CEO
As President and CEO of BASE, Jerod Patterson leads a growing regional alliance to advance practical solutions for southeastern North Carolina’s continued growth, prosperity, and quality of life.
Over nearly two decades, Patterson has worked across corporate affairs, public policy, and communications strategy in North Carolina and Texas, developing a broad perspective on the institutions, interests, and issues that shape growing communities. His work has earned numerous industry awards, along with recognition among southeastern North Carolina’s 40-Under-40 and Top-100 Influential Business Leaders.
He holds degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Texas at Austin, including a Ph.D. in Government.
Connect with JerodBoard of Directors
- Jason SwainChair
- John LennonVice Chair
- Shawn Horton
- Howard Penton
- Heath Clark
- Mike Keenan
- Nicolas Montoya
- Bob Bates
- Jennifer Adams
- Janet Kane
- Dave Spetrino
- Ryan Bisplinghoff
- Ted Shipley
- Hill Rogers
- Sam Franck
- Tim MilamEx officio
- Brian EckelEx officio
- Jerod PattersonCEO · Ex officio