Land Use Plan – 2002 - Stanly County, North Carolina

STANLY COUNTY
Stanly County is 399 square miles in area, ranking it as the 64th-largest of North Carolina’s 100
counties. While most of Stanly County’s land area is used for either farming or is undeveloped
forest land, the counties is also home to a number of communities including Albemarle, Badin,
Locust, New London, Norwood, Oakboro, Red Cross, Richfield, and Stanfield (see Figure 1-1).
With a 2000 population of 58,100, Stanly County ranks as the 42nd–largest county in North
Carolina according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The county is served by a number of major state and federal roadways that link the county to the
adjoining region. Among these is NC 24/27, a major east-west roadway that links Albemarle,
Locust, and Stanfield with Cabarrus and Mecklenburg Counties as well as the rest of the
Charlotte metropolitan region. Another important roadway is U.S. 52, a north-south thoroughfare
that links the central part of Stanly County with Salisbury and Interstate 85 to the north and U.S.
74 in Wadeboro in Anson County.
Land Use Plan Study Area
History
The Land Use Plan study area is indicated in Figure 1-2. The study area includes
unincorporated areas of Stanly County outside of municipal extra-territorial jurisdictions, or ETJs.
New London, Norwood, Locust, Oakboro, Richfield, and Stanfield have exercised ETJs. All
totaled, the study area includes 174,360 acres of Stanly County’s 216,960 acres of land area, or
80.3 percent of the county.
Planning issues, however, do not stop at corporate boundaries. The Land Use Plan examines
the planning and development goals of the municipalities of the county to ensure that long-range
planning is coordinated and consistent.
Stanly County has a rich and colorful natural and cultural history. Stanly County lies at the
southwestern end of the Uwharrie Mountains, which at 500-million years of age are considered
to be the oldest mountain range in North America. Evidence suggests human settlement dating
back 10,000 years ago when small tribes of hunter-gatherers roamed the Piedmont region.
Though the North Carolina Colony was established by the British crown in 1663, the Stanly
County region was generally uncolonized until the 1780s and 1790s, owing to its isolation
provided by the Yadkin and Pee Dee Rivers. An area south of Norwood was the site of an
American Revolutionary War confrontation, the Battle of Colson’s Ordinary, in July 1780.
Stanly County was formed from the western portion of Montgomery County by the state
legislature on January 11, 1841. The county is named for John Stanly, a colorful 19th-century
theorist, orator, and statesman who served in the House of Commons, state legislature, and 7th
and 11th U.S. Congresses. Albemarle, the county seat and largest city in Stanly County, was
incorporated in 1857.
As part of the process used to develop the Land Use Plan, a timeline of events shaping the
history of Stanly County has been developed during the course of the public meeting process.
The timeline is included in Appendix A to this report.
Land Use Plan 1-3 6/02