New Census: Wake up to realities of rapid growth
New census data confirms what our communities know is true – that Wake County is growing faster than national averages, and we’re experiencing the challenges of growth every day -- from traffic congestion to crowded schools to a limited water supply. Raleigh led the Triangle’s growth, adding 128,000 residents in the past decade. Wake's suburbs and urban areas experienced unprecedented growth rates (exceeding 100% in some areas!), which have remained relatively unblemished by the recent economic recession and are only expected to increase as our nation recovers.
Local and state leaders must wake up to high growth rates, and take steps to make our communities even stronger to protect our quality of life and ensure economic viability into the future. We cannot afford to wait. WakeUP Wake County recommends strong collaboration at the state and local level for improved land use, transportation and infrastructure planning. WakeUP recommends updated municipal ordinances and zoning to enhance vibrant metro regions, expanded public transit systems to guide growth and relieve congestion, planning for drinking water supply and requirements for increasing conservation, and fair and new ways to generate revenue to pay for much-needed public infrastructure, like schools, water and sewer and transportation.
“With a growth rate of over 43%, the realities of the numbers are hard to dispute. Now we need to come together in agreement on the actions to take,” said Paul Morris, WakeUP Board member, and a nationally known urban planner. “We need consensus on a vision for what we want our communities to look like so our quality of life doesn’t decline.”
Raleigh has an opportunity to plan well for its growth with the current evaluation of a new development code. The draft is expected out in April, and the public is encouraged to comment. WakeUP will be, and we hope you will too. For more details on Raleigh's new development code, click here.
More information on census results for the Triangle & Raleigh
- Karen Rindge, Executive Director, WakeUP Wake County
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mip zip zoof
03/07 05:10 PM
buy real estate
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Susan
03/07 10:46 PM
I hope that Raleigh, Cary, Apex, and other muni’s and the county will realize that sprawl and the loss of farmland and forests are a serious problem and do something to limit it. In the western states they have “urban growth boundaries”. A little to the west in Orange county they call them “rural buffers”.
But whatever you call them, there should be limits that would prevent development outside of the limits. The county is letting development continue to the north. Cary has its eyes on the rural land in Chatham County. And Apex and other communities want to continue there sprawl outward into rural areas.
Wake County must accept that there are limits to population growth. We will run out of water (what if the 2007 drought were to happen 20 years from now. Or even now. Our traffic is getting more congested. Just look at the growth on Glenwood ave in the Angus Barn/RDU area - the rail won’t make that any better. The fastest growing areas are in the outer parts of the county.
We must do something to manage our growth. -
Esteban Colberto
03/07 11:49 PM
So, having fled every so-called cool city after the yuppie invasions and moving back to my home state…
You should be terrified when you are in traffic and see nothing but New York and midwestern license plates. You need to be honest with all the people you know and tell them how horrible it is to live here.
If you don’t… Atlanta, GA is a shining example of the hell on earth this last bastion of good living could become. Let me spell that out for you… Atlanta GA is hell on earth, coming someday, maybe?
The mosquitos here are horrible. Rednecks everywhere. Only a couple post-organic restaurants. No S&M/bondage clubs. Nothing but suburban sprawl. In fact, a woman I work with is taking several anti-depressants to cope w/ the adjustment of living here after moving from Portland. Jusat look at the the number of Suburbans vs. Outbacks in Raleigh traffic and the number of Baptist churches. Besides, Oprah thinks Cary is the coolest place ever. It’s a craphole, stay where you are.
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Lupus Yonderboy
03/07 11:56 PM
New Raleigh? Yeah, your the enemy here… hope you are making ad money. I haven’t forgotten the review you removed several years ago.
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Arthur
03/08 11:28 AM
Its funny. People move here and clear land to make endless neighborhoods and stip malls. Then after a few years they complain about the neighborhoods and stip malls.
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MAC
03/10 10:41 AM
“We need consensus on a vision for what we want our communities to look like so our quality of life doesn’t decline.”
Too late. Both the city and county are so far behind the curve in terms of infrastructure I doubt they’ll ever catch up. Capital Boulevard is a prime example. When we moved to Wake Forest 11 years ago, there was talk of making it a limited access freeway, back before the rapid growth when land was actually affordable. Never happened, and now the road is nearly impassable at rush hour.
The same thing happened in West Palm Beach. When I was growing up, it was a great place to live. Then the town started making a bunch of “best of” lists, people swarmed into the area, and today it’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy. For some reason, city fathers seem to think unlimited growth is a good thing, even though it plays havoc with peoples’ quality of life. In medical terminology, there’s another term for rampant, out-of-control growth: cancer.
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lorenzoaguilar28
03/10 12:59 PM
The 2010 Census numbers have been released, and the South’s projected growth in population and political clout—which Facing South has been writing about for over two years—is now reality.
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JRD
03/16 10:06 PM
Raleigh will never wake up. Sprawl around here will never stop.
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Susan Aramsly
03/17 08:28 AM
MAC and JRD,
Maybe I am too optimistic. It is never too late to make a change. Someone once said (about something else) that the best time would have been twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
Had we stopped this mad rush to grow faster than anyone else twenty years ago we would be much better off today. But we can at least stop it now. Sprawl will stop when we run out of water and when our roads get so congested that we can’t get anywhere (like work). I would like for it to stop before that happens.
I know that the climate of the Triangle area helps make it desirable. But Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and other places have the same climate. Wake has much faster growth than other counties in the Triangle. We need to be trying to find out why, and making corrections in any policy. We also must learn to say NO to development on the fringe of the city.
Just as an example, our public officials are trying to bring businesses into the area, even though they will be bringing in people to fill the jobs.
In other words, we must stop trying to grow, and we must stop permitting developers from building their subdivisions in areas that are currently rural.
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Ironic Hipster Moustache
03/19 12:25 AM
Cities grow and change all of the time, now it’s Raleigh’s turn. Next will be Durham. This is the progression of life and society people, there are more and more people every year on this planet, and cities are going to grow. If you don’t like it you can always move to Montana, or complain about it on the internet.
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WILLNCSU
03/21 11:43 AM
Just keep in mind that if you restrict growth and development it will just drive prices up to levels where your average worthless hipster will no longer be able to afford anything. On second thought, that might be a good idea…
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Susan
03/23 06:23 PM
Ironic:
Cities may change, sometime for the better for often for the worse. But not all cities grow so fast. Many don’t grow in population but get to be better places to live. Wake County and the Raleigh area has, for decades, been growing faster than the state, the Triangle area, and any other county.WILLNCSU:
Restrictions on growth may drive up prices to a small extent. But non trying to grow will not drive up prices. Economic development, attracting new businesses and people, will drive up prices. Anything we do to make the area a better place to live (improved schools, better roads, more attractive area, etc.)will drive up prices.When people don’t like something they say that it will make the homes less affordable and raise taxes. When they do like something, they say that it will make our homes more valuable and increase our tax basis. There are people that are against growth boundaries because they make homes less affordable, but support economic development because that will increase the tax base.
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RaleighHunts
04/04 12:33 PM
Esteban Colberto
What a very unintelligent, uninformed, and unhelpful comment.
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Francesco Zappa
04/06 08:51 AM
Let’s change Raleigh’s name to Fat City, NC. That’ll keep the greedheads, snakeheads and shitheads away.
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susan
04/06 09:19 AM
I still like “sprawleigh”. That seems to be the way our local leadership wants to go.
As for s***heads, they are everywhere. You can’t keep them away. Of course, someone who is a s***head to you might be a smart, right thinking person to me, and vice-versa.
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MAC
04/06 10:48 AM
I think changing Wake Forest’s name to Wake Parking Lot is inevitable at this point…
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susan
04/16 08:58 AM
Mac,
Sorry, but “Wake Parking Lot” is the new name for Wake County, particularly I-40 near RTP. But, yes, Wake Forest certainly has a traffic problem.
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