Orange County NC Website
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g.4 MCLTITNG LAND USE AND INFRASTRUCTURE <br /> GENERAL FRAMEWORK <br /> Orange County is located in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, a <br /> broad plateau area between the coastal plains to the east and the <br /> Appalachian Mountains to the west. Along with the cities of Raleigh <br /> and. Durham, the County forms , part of the Piedmont Crescent, a <br /> string of urban areas which stretch in an arc from Raleigh to Charlotte. <br /> Orange County has an area of 254,720 acres or 398 square miles. It <br /> has borders with five other counties - Person and Caswell on the north, <br /> Alamance to the west, Chatham on the south and Durham to the east. <br /> The County is linked to other major North Carolina cities by Interstate <br /> 85 which serves Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem and Charlotte <br /> and by NC 54 which goes to Raleigh. <br /> The incorporated To in the County listed in order of decreasing pop- <br /> " ulation are Chapel Hill (pop. 32,038) , Carrboro (pop. 7517), Hillsborough <br /> (pop. 3019) and Mebane (pop. 2718). The location of these Towns is shown <br /> on the Existing Land Use Map. The population of the County is 77,055 <br /> persons. <br /> TOWNSHIP PLANNING AREAS <br /> Orange County is divided into seven townships. These townships served <br /> as voting districts in the nineteenth century, but have no legal stand- <br /> , <br /> ing today. Each of the townships has a distinctive character and they <br /> have been used, as planning areas in developing the Land Use Plan. The <br /> location of the townships is shown on the Existing land Use Map. <br /> Cedar Grove and Little River are the two most northern townships. They <br /> are rural, and agricultural in character and contain no incorporated <br /> places. The population of Cedar Grove and Little River Townships is <br /> 3166 persons and 1493 persons respectively. With a total area of over <br /> 80,000 acres or 125 square miles, the population density is only 38 <br /> persons per square mile. <br /> Tobacco is the major cash crop. These Townships mark the southern edge <br /> of a major tobacco growing region which extends to the north on into <br /> Virginia. <br /> Cedar Grove Township has experienced no population growth since 1970. The <br /> Township is distant from major employment centers in Chapel Hill, Durham, <br /> Research Triangle Park and Burlington. The Township is unlikely to see <br /> significant population growth in the future. <br /> Little River Township has experienced some population growth, especially <br /> along Guess Road, because of the proximity of this portion of the Township <br /> 31 <br />