Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The town of Apex also has two developments under construction that literally touch the Chatham County Line. I'm not sure what the zoning is like on the other side of the fence from these developments since it's so close to Jordan Lake, but the west side of Apex is fast approaching Chatham as well.
I’m pretty sure any available land east of the lake will be partitioned between Apex and Cary in the coming decades. Apex is well-positioned, though I think Cary struck first into Chatham.
Unfortunately I doubt that will happen. Developers will follow the path of least resistance that gets them the most revenue. That usually involves buying up large tracts of land, clear cutting, and sprawling unwalkable subdivisions with no real thought to interconnectivity.
Density usually comes decades and decades down the road when there's nothing left to clear cut / build upon.
It doesn't HAVE to be this way. The General Assembly can get out of the way of towns doing what they want instead of being in the back pocket of developers. And, towns can decide that they are going to operate like businesses, focus on maximizing existing infrastructure and stop subsidizing fly-by-night developers.
I don’t quite follow. SW Wake was always destined to grow faster than Franklin County/Louisburg. It’s much closer to RTP, Durham, and Raleigh. Johnson County is also much more geographically friendly.
And building a city plan after the fact is hard expensive. Pittsboro isn’t going to start building out a grid now. I have family land in Chatham, and the encroachment of Goodnight’s fantasyland is not wholly appreciated. But there simply isn’t money in building a denser downtown alternative. Rebuilding the courthouse was enough. It will keep its small downtown core street intact, but otherwise it will just be a hodgepodge as family farms are broken up in piecemeal.
What I meant was from the perspective you see from Franklin County, 25 miles Northeast of Raleigh, that is all one sees, growth slowly creeping Northward along US401. Durham and RTP weren't considered as much and weren't as prominent as they are now.
I remember visiting a friend's grandmother in Holly Springs back in the 80's, and I don't remember anything other than a crossroads intersection. I hadn't ever heard of that area being in the bullseye of explosive growth back then.
If you live in Chatham, I wish you would investigate ways that the county could direct the growth that is coming. There has to be some approval processes and water and sewer availability is one factor. Impact fees should be levied in accordance to doing what's best for the future of the county.
Roads are another factor, and there could be incentives given to developments that connect to at least two separate highways, so that people can avoid trouble spots and one highway is taking the full brunt of all the new traffic.
I've never understood why it's so inconvenient to drive around a few clusters of mature trees. They are appreciated by buyers of homes.
Tree replacement can be dictated by the county can't it? It would be bad PR for the legislature to come out fighting that wouldn't it?
Anyway for Chatham, I'll be some land parcels will be big enough to replicate a small town grid of streets, and I wasn't thinking of redoing existing town's road layout.
I keep opining for the missed opportunity in Rolesville, because it was previously a one intersection town.
I don't know how many of you have been through Rolesville, not on the bypass which is fine, but on the old US401 through town. There is no rhyme or reason to the development, with neighboring Wake Forest almost as bad. I can't get a mental picture of which road goes where.
Rolesville's vinyl-sided, treeless subdivisions backing up to the highway are tomorrow's high crime areas.
What happened to the area around New Hope Road will just inch Northward.
Louisburg and Franklin County are about to explode with the 4-laning of US401 in progress. In 5 years the travel time from Louisburg to the US1/US401 split on Capital Blvd. will shrink from 30 to 18-20 minutes.
The problem with a map like that is that it's showing migration per each 1000 residents, which paints a completely different picture than actual growth numbers.
That said, it's interesting to see the possible hollowing out of Nashville's growth since its core county isn't even blue.
Interesting population info. This was the population of North Carolina's largest cities in 1960. Notice the two largest Triad cities ranked 2nd and 3rd largest. Back then textiles and tobacco was king and was driving the state's economy. The Triad was the hub of that. Charlotte's population was higher because even back then banking and finance was taking root. Only about 80,000 people separated Greensboro from Charlotte.
But then banking and research and technology exploded in Charlotte and Raleigh and the population reflects that. Greensboro should pass 300,000 by the 2020 census.
Interesting population info. This was the population of North Carolina's largest cities in 1960. Notice the two largest Triad cities ranked 2nd and 3rd largest. Back then textiles and tobacco was king and was driving the state's economy. The Triad was the hub of that. Charlotte's population was higher because even back then banking and finance was taking root. Only about 80,000 people separated Greensboro from Charlotte.
But then banking and research and technology exploded in Charlotte and Raleigh and the population reflects that. Greensboro should pass 300,000 by the 2020 census.
If you go back to 1950, even Durham was larger than Raleigh. Raleigh's ascendance is one of the biggest population stories of the last 100 years. Cary's growth is another one, if not the biggest population story. It came from nowhere to be the state's 7th largest city.
Interesting population info. This was the population of North Carolina's largest cities in 1960. Notice the two largest Triad cities ranked 2nd and 3rd largest. Back then textiles and tobacco was king and was driving the state's economy. The Triad was the hub of that. Charlotte's population was higher because even back then banking and finance was taking root. Only about 80,000 people separated Greensboro from Charlotte.
True about finance/banking in Charlotte during that time, but don't forget that textiles was big in Charlotte as well.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
