Wood pellet producer Enviva has begun building in Wilmington in two respects.

Monday morning, the Maryland-based company took members of the business community and the media to its site at the Port of Wilmington for a close-up view of construction that is underway.

The company is spending about $50 million to build its export terminal that will include two large wood pellet storage domes. Work on the first dome is almost complete; Enviva plans to inflate the huge dome's "skin" atop a concrete platform later this week, officials said.

If the weather is favorable Friday or Saturday, the mesh fabric (shown in its storage bag, at right) will be bolted to the outer edge of the concrete platform and two huge blowers will inflate it, according to officials with Enviva's subcontractor. When the fabric is rigid, workers will spray the interior with foam embedded with metal rods, and will then attach rebar to the metal and apply concrete to the surface.

Thomas Meth, Enviva co-founder and executive vice president for sales and marketing, said Monday that it takes about 48 hours to inflate and then finish the interior of each dome.

As workers prepare to erect the first storage facility, construction is underway on the second, which will be finished in about six weeks, Meth said. Workers are currently driving the 700 pilings that will support the concrete platform.

While that work continues, relationship-building was well underway Monday afternoon at a ceremony held at the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, where Meth (on the left in photo) and Johnnie Henagan, president of the Sunset Park Neighborhood Association, signed a cooperative agreement.

The agreement aims to build positive relationships that would benefit both the company and the residents.

In the past few months, the Sunset Park Neighborhood Association has expressed concern about Enviva's proposed design, which includes the two 170-foot-high domes, each of which could hold as much as 45,000 metric tons of wood pellets. The domes will block sunlight from nearby residential properties, residents have said.

Some residents have also complained about construction noise - notably the pile drivers - and other potential impacts the Enviva terminal could have on the neighborhood, association members said at the signing ceremony.

The agreement, however, is designed to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the two entities that could enlist Enviva as an advocate for the neighborhood association with the port.

"I heard your concerns loud and clear. What I'm signing here . . . is my personal commitment to do what I can do to address those concerns," Meth said at the signing.

The agreement is based upon "good neighbor principles," Henagan said.  "We look forward to an excellent working relationship."

"What [Enviva] may be able to do with us is good . . . for everybody," said Don Skinner, who lives in Sunset Park and is a member of the association.

Fellow resident David Hueholt agreed that the agreement is a good step.

"Every business has to make decisions that affect their bottom line. Sometimes these decisions have to do with safety," he said, noting that if Enviva knows the people living nearby, they will be more likely to think about them when making decisions.

"We truly believe [Enviva] has a concern for the environment, so they will have a concern for the people in the environment," Hueholt added.

Among the items in the document, Enviva agrees to "advocate that an internal roadway from the new North Gate to the existing South Gate . . . be constructed within the Port."

That, to Sunset Park resident Pat Marriott, is a very important point.

"There is really significant addition of truck traffic along Carolina Beach Road and Front Street, and these roads are already overloaded," he said at the signing. "Enviva will encourage the Port to go ahead with those interior roads."

The Enviva terminal is just one part of the company's activities in this part of the state. According to company materials, the N.C. State Ports Authority estimates that the overall economic impact of Enviva's operations in eastern North Carolina is about $780 million. The company expects to produce about 500,000 metric tons of wood pellets each year at its Sampson County plant, using wood purchased from local forest owners. That plant is under construction.

"Initial startup operations at the Sampson County and Wilmington Facilities are scheduled to begin in February 2016. Wood pellet production and shipping are scheduled to begin in the spring of 2016," an Enviva information sheet stated, adding that, combined, the Sampson County plant and the Wilmington export terminal will create about 300 new jobs.

While Enviva states that it harvests only wood that is dead or otherwise waste product, environmental groups have argued that the company's practices are not as green as it says they are.