Holly Springs looks to the future

 

Staff Photo by Anitta C. Frazier
Farmland around Holly Springs is giving way to more and more housing developments.

By KYLE YORK SPENCER, Staff Writer, The Raleigh News& Observer, June 1998


     HOLLY SPRINGS -- The extension of water lines to new homes and shopping centers all over town can mean only one thing: Growth has finally hit Holly Springs.
     Just south of Apex in southwestern Wake County, Holly Springs is known as a friendly place where people feel comfortable leaving their doors unlocked.
     Slightly more than 1,000 residents lived in the rural village in 1990, compared with the estimated 6,000 people who made their homes in Holly Springs last year. Plans for a new downtown surely will attract more residents.
     As a result, Holly Springs has approved several new subdivisions to make room for many more residents. Many of the newcomers work in Research Triangle Park.
     Besides crowding local byways with cars of recent vintage, the newcomers are making their presence felt in the political arena. There are three natives of New York City on the town's Board of Commissioners.
     Newcomers and longtime residents alike can be found during the summer months crowding the 18-hole golf course in the Sunset Ridge subdivision.
     Last year, developer Joseph Hakan presented a plan to the town board to remake the town's center with a new town hall, shops, an amphitheater and offices. The board approved the formation of the nonprofit Holly Springs Development Corporation to oversee the project, which could cost $6 million to $12 million.
     The town's Woman's Club is active. It formed the town's first library, located in the W.E. Hunt Community Center. It has done countless landscaping projects, and is planning a butterfly garden in the town's new park, which is under construction.