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118 <br /> 3.9 HILLSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP <br /> TOWNSHIP PROF/LE: SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS <br /> Hillsborough Township, located in the center of Orange <br /> County, occupies 15,100 acres, approximately 6% of the total <br /> County land area <br /> The major growth and development center in Hillsborough <br /> Township is the Town of Hillsborough, located in the <br /> Township's geographic center. The Town and its <br /> extraterritorial jurisdiction, which together encompass 5,200 <br /> acres, splits the Township into northern and southern tiers. <br /> The section of the Township south of Interstate 85 is <br /> influenced, to some degree, by the northward development <br /> patterns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. This level of influence <br /> will increase with the completion of Interstate 40, as travel <br /> time to Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Research Triangle Park <br /> decreases. Township wide, though, the Town of Hillsborough <br /> remains the dominant urban influence. <br /> Socio-Economic Features, <br /> According to the 1980 Census, Hillsborough Township had 8,599 <br /> persons, 11.2% of the County's total population. Ten years <br /> prior, the Township had a population of 5,866 residents, <br /> indicating an average growth rate of 3.91% annually <br /> throughout the decade. This rate was slightly higher than <br /> that of the County as a whole. During that same time, the <br /> Town of Hillsborough grew from 1,444 to 3,019 residents, a <br /> growth rate averaging over 7% per year. Much of that increase <br /> took place as the result of annexation. <br /> The growth rate of the 1970's has continued through the <br /> 1980's. By 1987, the Township had grown to an estimated <br /> 11,427 people. This translates to an average growth rate from <br /> 1980 to 1987 of 4.15% per year, still higher than the County <br /> as a whole. As a result of natural increase, in-migration, <br /> and annexation, the Town of Hillsborough has also kept up its <br /> high growth rate, reaching approximately 5,400 residents in <br /> 1987. An estimated additional 600 to 700 people live in the <br /> Town's extraterritorial jurisdiction. <br /> The economic character of the Township is shaped by two <br /> factors. The first is the major transportation corridor that <br /> 3.9-1 <br />