Explosive housing market tests schools
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on June 17, 2005 1:45 PM
The housing market is exploding in the northern part of Wayne County, and the county Planning Board hopes the county school system can be ready to accommodate the expected growth in student population.
Plans to build subdivisions containing more than 395 homes have been approved by the Wayne County Planning Board over the past several years. Almost all of them are in the Northwest Elementary, Norwayne Middle and Charles B. Aycock High School districts.
The latest development was approved Tuesday, when the board approved a preliminary plat for the Carolyn Ridge subdivision.
The development, containing 90 homes, will be built on the Pikeville-Princeton Road, near the Johnston County line.
Connie Price, the county's planning director, said the homes in that subdivision would probably be starter, or mid-range, houses.
"They are the kind of homes that usually attract people with children," he said. "It will probably take a couple of years before it's completed."
Willow Brook, on Nahunta Road near the intersection with Hinnant Road, is halfway completed. There are 75 lots in that subdivision.
Price said the rest of the homes in Willow Brook, also starter or mid-range, should be completed within the next 18 months.
Goose Creek subdivision is a half-mile away from Northwest School, on Nor-Am Road at the intersection of Rose Road. Fifty of the planned 170 lots in the development have been completed. Price said construction on the next 50 lots should begin in the fall.
Edgerton Farms is on Nahunta Road, near the Nahunta Fire Station. The 20-lot subdivision is almost completed, Price said. Those homes are also starter to mid-range.
Two other subdivisions, which will have homes in the upper range, are also being built in the same district.
Construction recently started on the Orchard Heights subdivision, which contains 40 home lots. That development is at the intersection of Vail and Rose roads,
Price said that another section of Lane Tree Village is being developed, which will create an additional 20 homes.
"Where are we going to educate them?" asked Steve Keen, a member of the planning board. "This needs to be looked at by the Board of Education."
Price said that the county Board of Education receives copies of every approved subdivision.
He said that county statistics show that each household has an average of 1.5 children.
"So you're talking about possibly around 500 kids," he said.
Planning Board Chairman Wayne Aycock said he knew that more growth is coming to that area.
"We just need to make sure the Board of Education is aware of all these plats," he said.