|
You may or may not consider the
designations as welcome, but a report
last week by the U. S. Census confirmed
what residents already know. Rolesville
and Wake Forest grew the fastest – in
terms of percent – between July 1, 2004
and July 1, 2005 of any towns in North
Carolina.
Rolesville grew by 19.3
percent, and Wake Forest grew by 14.7
percent. Holly Springs (10.3 percent)
and Fuquay-Varina (9.6 percent) were
close behind. The county as a whole
added 29,082 people in that same time
frame, about 80 new residents a day.
In real numbers, the gain in
Rolesville is less striking though
noticeable. It added, the Census figures
say, from 1,038 people to 1,238. For a
comparison, the Census found 913 people
living in the town in 2000.
It is, of course, just the
beginning, for the town has nine
residential subdivisions planned or
underway.
Bryan Hicks, the town
planner, said earlier this year that
2,000 new homes had been approved in the
previous three years.
Town Manager Matt Livingston
expects the town to grow four-fold in
the next five years.
The rate of increase can be
shown in just one, Cedar Lakes on East
Young Street opposite New Bethel Baptist
Church. In January, the streets, sewer
and water were complete but no building
had begun. It was so quiet a heron could
go about his business at the pond. This
week there are 26 homes that are either
complete or under construction with
piles of cement blocks, bricks and
framing on other lots. There will be 52
homes when the first phase of the
subdivision is complete, and Lennar may
add another 50 homes by building more
streets and connecting the main street,
Virginia Water Drive, with The Village
of Rolesville. The approved plan calls
for 178 homes on 102 acres.
Subdivisions such as Cedar
Lakes may add more population than
planners usually estimate: 2.6 people
per household. A spokesman at the sales
office said some of the families who
have moved in have five and six children
each.
The town has a bright new
park, Sanford Creek Elementary School is
underway nearby, and the town added a
parks and recreation director to the
staff last year. The town has also
purchased land on South Main Street
(U.S. 401) for a 15,000-square-foot town
hall within five years.
To guide the onrush of
subdivisions, the town board has enacted
development standards which specify,
among other standards, the minimum size
of houses and the minimum quality of
materials used.
One of Rolesville’s biggest
problems is the traffic on U.S. 401, and
the solution will be the bypass to the
east. The first step will be to widen
the highway from the Ligon Mill/Mitchell
Mill intersection up to Louisbury Road.
Construction of the four lanes is
expected this year. This year the
Department of Transportation should
begin buying land for the bypass, which
will go from Louisbury Road to N.C. 96
and be complete in 2012. There is no
funding for the 18-mile section from the
bypass to Louisburg.
(For more details about
Rolesville’s growth, you can see the
article in the Jan. 4, 2006 edition.)
Wake Forest’s growth may be more than
the Census estimates. It says we added
2,576 people between July of 2004 and
July of 2005, going from 17,550 to
20,126 last year at this time.
However, planner Chad Sary
said the Wake Forest Planning Department
estimated there were 20,300 people in
town by the end of 2004.
The town has 47 residential
subdivisions that are planned, underway
or nearly complete with a total of 5,560
homes (single-family or townhouse) that
could be built through 2015. Using the
standard of 2.6 people in each house, we
could add 14,000 town residents without
taking into account any new requests,
which keep coming.
Planning Director Chip
Russell has warned the rate of building
will be affected by demand, the lending
rate set by the Federal Reserve and the
amount of water available under the
town’s water and sewer merger agreement
with Raleigh.
The major glut of
homebuilding will occur this year, in
2007 and in 2008 if every subdivision
builds every house possible under its
approved master plan and water
allocation. The possible homes are:
1,368 this year, 1,429 in 2007 and 1,088
in 2008.
But because the town is
trying to rein in the rate of building
and keep it to or under 800 homes a year
to stretch out the water allocation,
Russell has said repeatedly those
figures are unrealistic.
In the past two years, the
rate of homebuilding has hovered around
1,000 each year: 1,069 in 2004 and 964
in 2005. |
