Close this window to return to where you were.

Close this window to return

The News & Observer August 27, 2002 Using land near Harris Author: Richard Stradling; Staff Writer Edition: Final Section: News Page: a1 Index Terms: development Progress Energy CP&L Estimated printed pages: 3 Article Text: Progress Energy, the largest private landowner in Wake County, is looking to develop some of its vast holdings in a once-remote corner of the county. Progress Energy owns nearly 17,000 acres in Wake, the equivalent of three Umstead state parks, most of it taken up by Harris Lake, the Shearon Harris nuclear plant and surrounding land west of Holly Springs. The company owns more land than it needs to buffer the lake and the nuclear plant, making hundreds of acres available for development. "We look at that area as obviously a very high potential growth area," said spokesman Garrick Francis. "We will continue to analyze all the property we have in that area for its development potential." Progress Energy's subsidiary, Carolina Power & Light, took the first step last winter when it asked Holly Springs to annex 425 acres, making it eligible for town water, sewer and other services. The company took the second step last week when it persuaded Holly Springs commissioners to rezone 53 acres of that land along U.S. 1 to allow commercial development. Progress Energy will jump into the development business in a big way this fall, when it breaks ground on a $100 million office, retail and residential complex in downtown Raleigh. Twenty miles away, the company's land near Shearon Harris could fuel the westward expansion of Holly Springs into a part of the county that once seemed beyond the reach of development. Holly Springs was the state's fastest-growing town in the 1990s, and town officials, unlike their counterparts in Apex and Cary, have no interest in slowing down. Mayor Dick Sears and other town officials met with Progress Energy representatives this week to say they're eager to work with the company on future development. "We talked about the possibility of partnering on more commercial development, high schools, water treatment facilities, residential, and that's about as far as it's gotten," Sears said. "They do have a lot of land down there that we are interested in." CP&L has no immediate plans to develop the 53 acres along U.S. 1, but the company's rezoning application says an office park, shopping center or mixed-use project are possibilities. "We're just preparing ourselves so that when the market turns around we'll be in a better position to use the asset," Francis said. "Obviously that area has great potential." The rezoning surprised neighbors of the property, a forested tract surrounded by other forests and a smattering of houses. Elizabeth Ray, who has lived off Friendship Road since 1996, said people expect more building in their part of the county, but always considered the CP&L land off limits to development because of the nuclear plant. "There's enough signs that something's going to come our way," said Ray, whose 25-acre lot backs up on the company's land. "We just didn't expect it so soon. And we did not expect it from CP&L." CP&L acquired thousands of acres of farm and forest land in the southwest corner of the county in the 1960s and 1970s as it planned to build four nuclear reactors at Shearon Harris. After the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979, the company scaled back the plant to one reactor, which required less cooling water and a smaller lake, Francis said. Francis could not say how much Progress Energy land might be available for development, but he said it's more than the 425 acres annexed by Holly Springs. Company land abuts the town in several places, including the town's industrial park. The land is within five miles of the nuclear plant, but company officials don't think that will discourage development. Developers have planned or built hundreds of homes that are as close. "There certainly are lots of people who live in pretty close proximity to the plant and feel safe," Francis said. "Whatever you create out there, people would be willing to use it." The 53 acres rezoned last week are split by U.S. 1. Company officials say that makes them a logical place for commercial development, even though the nearest interchange on U.S. 1 is several miles away and the land is reachable now only by a gravel road. Progress Energy will ask the state Department of Transportation to build an interchange nearby before it develops the property, Francis said. Town officials will support a new interchange when the time comes, Planning Director Gina Bobber said. Finisterra, a planned 775-acre golf course subdivision just south of the recently annexed CP&L land, calls for up to 2,100 homes, enough to justify new access to U.S. 1, Bobber said. Meanwhile, Progress Energy's moves to develop its property have caught Ray and her neighbors off guard. They learned about the rezoning only about two weeks ago, she said. Now they're anxious about having a big chunk of commercially zoned property in their midst. "I don't feel it is fair to rezone a piece of property without giving the adjacent landowners time to understand the impact or what they plan to do," Ray said. "Right now it's all up in the air." Progress Energy land Staff Copyright 2002 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.