Wake County is the third-fastest growing county in the US. Here's how leaders are preparing.

Wake County is currently the third-fastest growing county in the United States.

More than 20,000 people moved to the county in 2021.

Wake County adds an average of 62.5 people per day. The county shows the average daily growth by municipality:

• Raleigh: 17.3
• Cary: 10.2
• Apex: 5.8
• Wake Forest: 4.6
• Fuquay-Varina: 4.4
• Morrisville: 3.0
• Knightdale: 2.2
• Rolesville: 1.6
• Garner: 1.5
• Wendell: 1.1
• Zebulon: 0.7
• Angier: 0.1
• Durham: 0.1
• Unincorporated: 5.4

The town of Fuquay-Varina is developing a Community Vision Land Use Plan to look at how to manage development and better connect the community through 2040.

“That planning gives us an opportunity to choose what types of developments we want in what areas of our town,” said Fuquay-Varina Mayor Blake Massengill.

What Fuquay-Varina used to be like

Steve Ashworth's family history has its own showcase inside Ashworth’s Clothing and Shoes, the men's clothing store his grandfather opened at 210 South Main Street in Fuquay-Varina.

“We have been here since 1937,” Ashworth said.

In those 85 years, the view outside Ashworth's Main Street storefront has changed.

“We had three stop lights when I was young here,” Ashworth said. “The landscape has changed certainly as we’re getting new building, new people.”

Ashworth believes the growing pains will prepare the town for the next generation.

“We just think it’s positioned with the amount of young people and families moving here that this will be a successful community into the future,” Ashworth said.

In 2021, the town issued 1,807 permits for new single-family home construction. The figure is a record for the town.

Through April, the town has already issued 837 single-family home permits in 2022.

Government planning to accommodate for more people

Wake County's proposed budget is built around responding to the rapid growth throughout the area.

“Transportation, you can’t keep your eye off the ball there,” said Wake County Commission Chair Sig Hutchinson. “You have to keep our communities safe. You have to be able to answer your 911 calls. You have to be able to take care of your citizens.

Fuquay-Varina is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure projects, which includes roads, water, sewer, public safety and parks.

“We can’t get the projects done fast enough,” Massengill said. “We have a lot of projects we’d like to do that the citizens in the community have shared with us, and the sad thing is it just doesn’t happen overnight.”

Anyone wanting to weigh in on Fuquay-Varina’s land use plan can visit the town’s website through May 20.

The town is also updating its pedestrian plan for sidewalks and greenways for the first time since 2013.