News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
July 20, 2001 |
GROWTH RATE SLOWS IN CARY, AS PLANNED
CARY, NC – Once characterized as a "grow at all cost" community,
the Town of Cary has dropped its once record-setting, double-digit growth rate
of the 1980’s and 1990’s to 4 percent for July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001,
according to the Town’s latest population report released today. The
report, which is issued each July, shows that Cary’s growth rate continues its
planned drop toward the Town’s 3-4 percent goal, from a high of 13 percent in
1995. The report also puts Cary’s July 1st population at 99,798.
In addition to adopting a comprehensive Growth Management Plan in 2000 and creating a Growth Management Division within its Planning Department, the Town has for the last several years developed and begun to implement a range of initiatives designed to meet Cary citizens’ requests for smarter, slower growth while continuing to preserve the community’s economic health--as evidenced by this year’s Triple A bond rating from all three major rating agencies and a one cent property tax decrease.
Some of the Town’s growth management initiatives likely affecting the planned growth rate decline include:
- Setting monthly building permit caps, which have thus far primarily affected multifamily development
- Accepting annexation petitions for new residential development only if they include a significant affordable and/or senior housing component
- Adopting the region’s first Adequate Public Facilities ordinances for roads and schools, which keep new development from moving forward until there is enough road and school capacity to address the added impact of the proposed new development.
- Becoming the Triangle’s leader in dramatically reducing taxpayer funded subsidies of growth by significantly raising developer paid impact fees to cover the costs of water, sewer, and roads necessary to support the new development
In addition, the Town is developing a new mechanism to regulate the long-term
rate of growth. Currently referred to as RATE, the Residential Allocation
and Timing Evaluation system will replace the existing building permit caps with
an annual limit on Town approval of new residential units at the development
plan submittal stage. RATE should help maintain the Town’s 3-4 percent
population growth rate goal and is slated to go to the Town Council for adoption
in early 2002. RATE will help reduce the estimated 2025 population build-out of
Cary from the 1996 projection of 215,000 to the current Council’s target of
160,000.
Other Town of Cary Smart Growth initiatives designed to improve the quality of
life of existing citizens include:
- Requiring 100’ undisturbed stream buffers to protect water quality in both the Neuse and Cape Fear Basins, the most stringent, self-imposed regulations in North Carolina; these rules effectively remove more than 4,000 acres of land from possible development
- Implementing North Carolina’s first reclaimed water systems serving both commercial and residential water customers; these systems divert treated wastewater from discharge into the Neuse River and, instead, pipe it directly to hundreds of water customers for irrigation and cooling uses
- Developing the Town’s first comprehensive Open Space and Historic Resources Plan
- Appropriating a one-time allocation of $12.5 million to preserve and protect open space
- Establishing a recurring funding source for open space designed to preserve and protect as much as $1 million worth of open space each year
See this year’s Population Report and read about Cary’s nationally recognized Smart Growth efforts at
www.townofcary.org or call the Planning Department at 469-4082.###
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PRIMARY CONTACTS: |
Jeff Ulma, Planning Director, 319-4590 |
