Yes. To get a permit to build would require city utilities and that almost always usually requires annexation. Note that Holly Springs and Wake Forest cannot expand their jurisdictions much more so they will be limited in their continued growth outward.
Curiosity, but there seems to be a lot of land north of the lake that claims no home. I always assumed it was Wake’s if it ever got incorporated, but is that not the case? And are their rules in regards to annexing over county lines? Growing towards Rolesville and Youngsville seem logical.
2 Likes
Where is Raleigh right now in terms of square miles? Last I heard, we were about 145 square miles including water. If so, that leaves the city with about 36 square miles of potential new land area.
Should Raleigh ever get that land (not holding my breath), it’s easy to imagine the municipal population easily reaching well over 600,000, if not eventually pushing 700,000. New suburban development that’s much denser than existing, coupled with dense infill redevelopment, should push the ppl/m2 up over time.
3 Likes
Looking at Raleigh’s ETJ map, it looks like besides the Swiss cheese that is North Raleigh, the bulk of the non-city land is off Buffaloe Rd.
Wake Forest has been annexing into Franklin County already and there is another subdivision which will soon be built on the east side of Capital Blvd in Franklin County. But they cannot go much farther as Youngsville is right near the county line also. Rolesville and Wake Forest jurisdictions basically butt up against one another already so very little growth in jurisdiction is possible. And to the west is Falls Lake.
Well 98 cuts through farmland and underutilized land while skirting the lake, but I’m sure there are ecological reasons that limit what can be built out there. Maybe Wake Forest can merge with its eastern neighbor, and Wake Forest-Rolesville will exist once more.
As of today Raleigh is 147.92 square miles
Thanks @TedF
Where are the most recent annexations? I see that map online, but I suspect that you’ll know without me having to go fishing around that map!
1 Like
It is the Falls Lake Watershed and it is protected and cannot be annexed and has fairly limited rural zoning.
Some of the most recent are 21.92 acres REID 198351 at the end the intersection of Skycrest and Southall. And 19.00 acres REID 0000385 (and others) off of Ponderosa Service Rd just south of Common Oaks. A big one of 53.56 acreas REID 0470637 (and many others) off of Louisburg Rd and Midtown Market.
4 Likes
Lol…
3 Likes
It’s like Cary…town in reverse.
4 Likes
It does have the second biggest downtown outside of Raleigh.
3 Likes
Since the extension of Franklin st to the 98 bypass I’d give that to Wake Forest. Fuquay really has ‘2 downtowns’. FWIW, Wake Forest has 3 former incorporated entities within its boundaries (Forestville and Royal Mill as well had charters as Towns)
1 Like
With Raleigh’s ETJ being over 181 square miles, it’s easy to imagine the city being over 600,000. That’s using a overall density metric just a tad more dense than we are today. If we can move our density metric up a few hundred people per square mile, the city could be 650,000. That said, I don’t imagine Raleigh actually getting to 181.53 square miles in my lifetime.
If Cary were to reach 68.13 square miles, it’s really easy to imagine them at 200,000+
With F-V’s ETJ, it’s easy to imagine them eventually at 100,000. That’s really hard to wrap my head around. That said, I suspect Apex gets there first, and possibly by 2030.
4 Likes
Something to think about when it comes to density and mass transportation…
3 Likes
I got a cold 7 weeks ago while on business in NYC, and I suspect that was from me not being careful on the Subway. It’s very hard not to touch surfaces that others have touched, but I’ve learned my lesson. Going forward, I am going to use portable hand sanitizer and be more diligent to not touching my face. Since catching that cold, I have actually successfully rode public transportation without touching anything with my hands. It’s not easy, but it’s possible. The same is true with bike share. For weeks I’ve been taking Clorox Wipes with me and using them on the grips of the bikes to kill anything that might have remained from a previous user.
That all said, I think that there’s also a complacency in suburban America right now. I keep hearing stories of kids playing in groups together in the streets as if it’s somehow more safe than them being in school. There’s even posts about this in CityData forums about Cary children.
The lesson is for everyone to practice good hygiene, especially during the virus season, and no matter where you are.
11 Likes
Is it really because of density? Or because of American local government/urban planning practices?
Of course it’s harder to enact quarantines in dense places, but putting up social barriers like eastern Asia’s nearly-religious cultural obsession with face masks or Indonesia’s isolation as a community from mainland Asia) are enough to stave off infections, too.
9 Likes
Dense asian countries were able to contain the spread because they responded quickly, tested more thoroughly, in addition to their stronger culture of cleanliness.
Raleigh can get a lot denser but it will never be remotely close to New York’s level. That kind of scale comes with its own challenges as we are seeing.
4 Likes
And an additional read.
9 Likes