Holly Springs is answering the nationwide recession with a spate of development along the N.C. 55 corridor as major shopping centers and other retail establishments take shape.
Now Town officials are asking people who live or do business in Holly Springs what stores, restaurants and other businesses are needed in those developments.
An online retail preferences survey is under way to assess what commercial businesses people want. The results will be shared with developers and business owners looking to locate here.
"We often get questions from developers, 'What does the community want?'" said Jenny Mizelle, the Town's Economic Development director. "We felt this was a good way to gauge that."
The 17-question survey will remain open for about a month.
Responses will help Town officials assess how much economic activity is leaving Holly Springs that could be kept here with the right mix of businesses, said Daniel Weeks, the Town's project analyst and organizer of the survey.
"We’ve got a lot of commercial development coming out of the ground now," he said. "This is a good time to assess what our residents desire."
Thanks in part to commercial growth such as the Novartis flu vaccine facility under construction and shopping centers under development, Holly Springs is in comparatively good financial position.
"I think retailers have confidence in our market," Mizelle said, citing Wal-Mart's decision to build here as paving the way for the Main Street Square and South Park developments nearby and New Hill Place to the north on N.C. 55.
In a survey two years ago, residents said they would spend more of their money in Holly Springs given additional opportunities to shop and dine in town. Restaurants were a priority.
Town officials intend for survey results to produce tangible benefits - new stores and restaurants, for examples - rather than collect dust on a shelf.
In fall 2006, a survey that drew more than 600 responses showed strong support for a farmers market. The following spring, the Town opened the Holly Springs Farmers Market on Saturday mornings in the Town Hall parking lot. The market is now in its third season, with more vendors than ever.
HOLLY SPRINGS TV on Time Warner Cable Channel 11. Another great way to help connect our growing community!
Holly Springs is one of five North Carolina cities and towns on Relocate America’s 2009 “America’s Top 100 Places to Live.” The Web site released its 12th annual listing Tuesday.
Given concerns about the nation’s economy and housing market, Relocate America representatives said they approached the 2009 ranking differently than in previous years.
“We concentrated on the outlook for future growth and ability to rebound in the communities that we selected,” said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO. “We looked at the local government and the business leadership in each community as we considered this year’s winners.”
Relocate America based its “Top 100” selection on interviews with local leaders; feedback from residents; and economic, environmental, education, crime, employment and housing data for the past year.
The Kiwanis Club of Holly Springs meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Our motto is Young Children: Priority One! We sponsor youth clubs and events such as High School Key Clubs, Kid’s Appreciation Day, Happy Holly Days Parade and tutoring for at risk children.
We are now accepting Corporate Memberships…includes:
Voting Privileges, Announcements at Club Events, Company Listing on Club Banner at all Public Events, Company Logo and Website Link on Kiwanis Club Website, Recognition in Local Newspaper Articles about the Club
To join us, contact Joe LoFaro at 919-457-8487 or Brian Adornetto at 919-387-6563, or visit us at www.hollyspringskiwanis.org/
Holly Springs Financial Position Remains Strong
The Holly Springs Town Council is holding its annual planning retreat close to home this year, trading overnight stays for a full day of presentations at Historic Yates Mill County Park south of Raleigh.
The agenda and supporting materials are available at www.hollyspringsnc.us.
Holly Springs remains in comparatively good position despite recessionary woes that are plaguing state budgets and many city and county governments.
“We’re very fortunate in that we’re in better shape at this point in time financially than a lot of places,” Town Manager Carl Dean said. “We’ve done a lot of planning to make sure we’re not so dependent on housing [construction] to meet our budget.”
For example, most of the development fees that the Town collects go into reserves instead of being used for operating expenses. The Town is also conservative in projecting revenues during budget preparation.
“The things we can control we’ve done very well with,” Dean said.
State budget pressures could affect Holly Springs and other local governments if the General Assembly holds back some revenues that otherwise would be disbursed to cities and counties.
“Right now, we’re in good shape,” Dean said.
Holly Springs has proposed seven projects for the federal stimulus money that Congress approved in February. The Town has submitted transportation, water and wastewater projects totaling $20.6 million to state agencies that will handle the federal money.
The projects are those Town administrators believe best meet the still-evolving criteria for stimulus money.
“We will be very fortunate if we get funding for even one project, as the competition is great for limited funds,” Engineering Director Stephanie Sudano wrote in a report for the council.
Among the projects submitted for stimulus money are water and wastewater lines to serve land near U.S. 1 that Holly Springs plans to use for industrial development.
The 130-acre site on Friendship Road is zoned for light industry and is certified as shovel-ready for development. Numerous environmental studies, surveys and development analyses already have been performed.
Topics for the 2009 winter retreat include the economy, investment, growth management, and innovation and partnerships.
Retreat sessions are scheduled to run almost until the 5 p.m. park closing on Saturday. Council members will decide then whether to return Sunday for more discussions.
Just as regular Town Council meetings, retreat sessions are open to the public.
Phone Book Recipients Can Opt Out
Want to keep Yellow Pages directories off your doorstep? Contact publishers online to reduce how many you receive or decline them altogether.
Yellow Pages publishers let you adjust how many phone books they send or remove yourself from distribution lists. Enter your ZIP code on the Consumer Choice page for a list of publishers and how to contact each of them.
Details on stopping junk mail are provided by the N.C. Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance. Links for dealing with telemarketing calls and e-mail "spam" are provided also.
Do you have old phone books to discard? Drop them off at the Wake County solid waste convenience center at 6025 Old Smithfield Road, just outside Holly Springs on the west side of N.C. 55 Bypass.
Wake County Solid Waste now accepts residents' phone books year-round at Old Smithfield Road and a dozen other locations throughout the county, including one in the New Hill community. They're open daily 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Phone book recycling locations include the South Wake Multi-Material Recycling Facility at 6130 Old Smithfield Road. It is open to Wake County residents and businesses.
Telephone books are not collected at curbside. Please do not put them in garbage or recycling carts.
The Town of Holly Springs provides weekly curbside garbage and recycling for residents through Waste Industries. The Town's curbside recycling program includes:
Glass food and beverage containers
Aluminum drink containers and steel food cans
Newspapers and magazines with stapled bindings
Plastics types 1-7 that did not contain motor oil or other hazardous substances
Corrugated cardboard plus cereal boxes, shoe boxes, etc., but not pizza boxes
Most junk mail and office paper, but not envelopes with plastic windows
For more information on the Town's garbage and recycling services, call Holly Springs Public Works at (919) 552-5920.
At Wake County's waste collection sites, residents can also drop off other items free of charge, including old computers, appliances, motor oil and batteries.
Protected Tomorrows helps families of a loved one with special needs by building a comprehensive life plan. This planning helps ensure a safe, fulfilling life for the loved one with special needs, or who are aging. We provide these solutions internally or via trusted partners so all planning can be completed in one location. The planning process includes the following areas: Legal, Financial, Educational, Transitional, Benefits, Guardianship, Communication, and Documentation. Contact Mark Jewell, licensed advocate of Protected Tomorrows for more information at (919) 647-4348.
Rex Healthcare Announces Approval of Holly Springs Facility
Rex Healthcare announced today it won approval from state regulators to build a 9,000-square-foot outpatient care center in Holly Springs. The facility, which will be built near Highway 55 and Avent Ferry Road, will offer urgent care and basic lab, occupational health and radiology services, including digital bone mammography and bone density screenings. Rex also plans to construct a 10,000-square-foot medical office building for physicians’ and other medical practices.
Parks & Recreation Weather Hotline Revised
Dial (919) 557-2939 and press 5 for weather cancellations of Holly Springs Parks and Recreation games, classes and events.
The weather hotline has been streamlined, allowing users to press 5 to reach the weather cancellation menu. After pressing 5, you can:
Press 1 for athletic field conditions
Press 2 for Bass Lake Park cancellations
Press 3 for Cultural Center and event cancellations
Press 4 for Hunt Community Center and gym cancellations
Holly Springs Community Band Needs Members We invite all concert band musicians to join us in making music and friends. Have you ever wanted to be in a band but didn't think you were good enough? If so, we're the band you are looking for. The Holly Springs Community Band is full of fun-loving musicians who enjoy playing music (to the best our abilities) and appreciate being a part of an ensemble. We would like to share the opportunity with others to dust off their instruments and join in the fun! Anyone who plays a band instrument is invited to join. No auditions are required. We present a number of concerts throughout the year including the ever popular Christmas concert and our many theme concerts. We practice most Thursdays at the Holly Springs Cultural Arts Center at 8pm. The center is located at 300 W Ballentine St Holly Springs, NC 27540. For more information visit our web site www.hollyspringsband.com
Simple Precautions Can Stop Thieves Holly Springs police say common sense and a few simple precautions can reduce your chances of being victimized by thieves during the holiday shopping season. Thieves are busy, too, this time of year and are on the lookout for victims inside stores and in parking lots.
“If you make yourself an easy target,” Police Chief John Herring said, “you're going to be singled out.” Lock your car. Put gifts and items of even modest value in the trunk. Don't leave pocketbooks unattended in shopping carts, even for a few seconds. Those are examples of the easy things that shoppers can do to avoid being victimized.
Holly Springs ranked as the safest town in North Carolina with a population of more than 10,000, according to a 2005 comparison of FBI crime statistics by the Shelby Star newspaper. “We live in a safe town,” Herring said. “Sometimes that sense of security leads to people letting their guard down.”
Civitans are everyday citizens, just like you and me, who come together in communities throughout the world to make life better for their neighbors.
Please come and visit with the Holly Springs Civitan Club. We meet the first and third Thursday at 7:00 PM at the Holly Springs United Methodist Church, 108 Avent Ferry Rd. in Holly Springs.
If you are not familiar with the Civitan Club, we are devoted to improving the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities through efforts such as summer camps, vocational programs, special Olympic games and cutting-edge research into Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Alzheimers at the Civitan International Research Center.
For more information please call Chip Moore at (919) 816-5165 or Teresa Parrish at (919) 889-6238.
You can learn more about the Civitans by visiting our international website at: www.civitan.net/hollysprings
For Business Plans & Town Facts Visit The Holly Springs Economic Development Website
http://www.hollyspringsnc.us/ecdev/
*Town related information is submitted by the Town of Holly Springs Public Information Officer, Mark Andrews.
