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2008 Forsyth County Trends and Development Patterns Report

Did you know that nearly 25,000 single-family lots, townhomes and apartments were approved by the City-County Planning Board between 2001 and 2008?  The 2008 Forsyth County Trends and Development Patterns report includes more than 70 charts and tables compiling information from more than 800 zoning dockets and nearly 15,000 construction permits from 2001 through 2008.  The report also examines transportation trends, economic trends and comparisons with comparable counties in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.  Much of the data has been aggregated into four geographic categories for comparison purposes: Winston-Salem’s Central City, Winston-Salem’s Suburban Ring, outlying Perimeter Communities and designated Rural Areas.  

Predictably, the greatest amount of residential and commercial development occurs in the Suburban Ring.  One surprising finding is that there has been 1.4 million square feet of institutional development (e.g. schools & universities, hospitals, churches, nursing care, etc.) approved in the Central City since 2001, for which local governments provide municipal services (such as infrastructure maintenance) but do not receive property tax revenues. You can view the report in .pdf format here: 2008 Forsyth County Trends and Development Patterns Report (pdf/64pp/1.32MB).

Please contact Steve Smotherman at the City-County Planning Department by email at steves@cityofws.org or by phone at 336-747-7066 if you have any inquiries.

Finding Suitable Industrial Park Sites in Forsyth County

Potential new Business/Industrial Park Sites of 100 acres or more are quickly becoming an endangered species in Forsyth County. Good Business/Industrial Park sites are necessary to be competitive with other communities for large Economic Development projects like the Dell manufacturing facility near Union Cross. There are just 15 good sites identified presently in all of Forsyth County. Some previously identified sites have already been developed residentially and, without protection, more of these rare sites could be lost to suburban residential development. Sites must be sifted through several factors before declaring it a prime Business/Industrial Park location including: proximity to interstate highways, adequate water supplies and sufficient wastewater treatment capacities, public regulations (e.g. zoning and watershed requirements), and the availability of the site to be purchased. View the PowerPoint slide show [pdf/5.84MB/58p]  prepared for Winston-Salem Business, Inc. indicating the advantages and limitations of Forsyth County in identifying and developing future Business/Industrial Parks (NOTE: This is a large file and will take time to load).