'It has grown exponentially.' Once sleepy town Holly Springs is booming

ByCindy Bae WTVD logo

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Everywhere you look in Holly Springs, work is underway. From science and education facilities to residential development.

"People, houses, apartments," Holly Springs resident James Dewey said. "It has grown considerably and I think one of the biggest problems is the traffic."

Facilities like Fujifilm Diosynth's manufacturing plant in Holly Springs' Oakview Innovation Park is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the area. But with traffic, comes more demand for town services, according to town officials.

Growth has prompted a new fire station that's coming to town in 2024, and for new residents, help is one call away with Holly Springs 311, a recently developed town app.

"They can report potholes if they have missed garbage collection, or when they want to know when the fireworks are," office of customer care manager Patty Dressen said.

The town nearly doubled in population over the past decade and is growing at a rate of 5.5% annually, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dressen said as the town grew, they needed to come up with a better response to service requests.

"We have a very tech-savvy community," Dressen said. "The residents have this opportunity through the app ... to share that with us and improve the community for everyone."

Dressen is confident the town will meet the growing needs of the community.

"Personally I've been here 23 years so yes it has grown exponentially," Dressen said. "But it's exciting because it brings a lot of opportunity and that's a great thing."