Surry’s Board of Supervisors have scheduled a Feb. 3 public hearing on whether the county should join a regional industrial facilities authority (RIFA).

Virginia’s Gateway Region, a nonprofit economic development authority that markets the Hopewell-Petersburg-Colonial Heights tri-cities area and surrounding localities, invited Surry to join with its membership last August in forming the RIFA.

Doing so would allow Surry to potentially partner with its neighbors to the south and west on economic development projects, with each locality sharing in a portion of the resulting tax revenue.

The authority would be governed by a board composed of one or two representatives from each member locality: Surry, Prince George, Sussex and Dinwiddie counties, and the cities of Hopewell, Colonial Heights and Petersburg.

The Eastern Virginia RIFA, of which Isle of Wight County is a member, includes a total of 10 Hampton Roads localities. Forming a new RIFA for the Gateway Region would cost roughly $13,000, VGR President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Boswell had estimated to Surry’s supervisors last August.

The public hearing will be held during the supervisors’ regular scheduled meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the general district courtroom of Surry’s government complex at 45 School St.