Land Use Plan – 2002 - Stanly County, North Carolina

STANLY COUNTY
Table 2-17. Building Permits Issued, Stanly County, 1997-2001.
Year
Conclusions
New
Houses
Manufactured
Homes
Total
Residential
New
Commercial
and Industrial
Land Use Plan 2-12 6/02
Total Permits
Estimated
Average
House Cost
Estimated
Average Cost
Commercial
and Industrial
1997 251 294 545 110 655 $84,828 $67,905
1998 247 323 570 122 692 $93,156 $165,534
1999 277 338 615 153 768 $93,206 $30,227
2000 297 267 564 186 750 $103,540 $88,498
2001 293 168 461 179 927 $94,461 $187,071
Average 273.0 278.0 551.0 150.0 758.4 $93,838.2 $107,847
Note: Includes incorporated areas.
Source: Stanly County Building Department.
Together, the total number of residential permits issued in Stanly County since 1997 is 551
permits. The number of commercial and industrial permits rose each year from 1997 to 2000. In
1997, 110 commercial/industrial permits were granted in the county. This figure rose to 186
permits in 2000 and decreased slightly to 179 permits in 2001. The average number of
commercial and industrial permits granted from 1997 to 2001 was 150.
The estimated value of the new residential construction in Stanly County from 1997 to 2001 was
an average of $94,461. This figure does not include the estimated value of manufactured
homes. As with the zoning permit statistics summarized in Table 2-16, the residential permit
estimated value was fairly consistent from year to year, with a high of $103,540 in 2000 and a
low of $84,828 in 1997. For commercial and industrial construction, the statistics are less
consistent. The average estimated value of each commercial/industrial permit for the 1997-2001
period was $107,847; however, this includes figures as high as $187,071 in 2001 and figures as
low as $30,227 in 1999. Again, as these statistics are collected for a more considerable period
of time, a more-clear trend analysis will become possible to identify.
Analysis reviewed in Section 2 indicates that Stanly County is at a crossroads. Stanly County—
though twice as large as its eastern and southern neighbors, Anson and Montgomery Counties,
is growing at a roughly similar rate. Its neighbors to the west—Cabarrus and Union Counties—
are both growing at a rapid pace due to their location relative to Charlotte. The influence of the
Charlotte metropolitan region is increasingly being felt throughout the county and particularly in
the western half in the vicinity of Locust, Oakboro, Red Cross, and Stanfield, and in the northern
portion near New London and Richfield.
Stanly County grew to a population of 58,100 in 2000, a 12.2 percent increase since 1990. While
this growth rate is low relative to adjacent counties, Stanly County in 2000 finds itself where
Davidson, Cabarrus, and Rowan Counties were in 1990: experiencing double-digit growth rates.
As planned infrastructure such as road improvements is constructed, Stanly County, and most
certainly its western perimeter communities will increasingly be connected to the outside world to
the west. Eventually it will need to be prepared for rapid growth in the near future.
Some parts of Stanly County are already experiencing this growth. Census tracts centered on
western (Locust, Red Cross, and Stanfield), west-central (the Millingport area), and east Stanly
County (Narrows and Tillery Reservoir) all grew at a rate over 20 percent since 1990. While this
growth maybe small in terms of real numbers, they indicate that these areas are all approaching
the growth rates of neighboring counties to the north and west as well as residential growth in
eastern Stanly County near Tillery Reservoir.