Day 1: Your Questions, Their Answers: Holly Springs (NC) Mayoral and Town Council Candidate Q&A Series
Over the next eleven days, Holly Springs Update and What’s Happening Holly Springs will feature daily candidate answers, giving voters a clear look at where each stands on key issues.
Holly Springs, NC, Sep. 24, 2025 — As Holly Springs prepares for the upcoming municipal elections, Holly Springs Update (HSU) and What’s Happening Holly Springs (WHHS) are working to give residents a clear view of where the candidates stand on key issues.
Earlier this month, all candidates were provided with a questionnaire developed from community-driven submissions and refined by Christian Hendricks, publisher of HSU, and Aaron Wenzel, moderator of WHHS. Candidate response documents were first published together in a story on September 22nd.
Earlier story: All Candidate Submissions Now Published in Holly Springs (NC) Mayoral & Town Council Questionnaire (9/22/25).
To facilitate easier comparison and contrast of answers, responses will now be shared on an individual basis. Beginning today, September 24, and continuing through October 4, one question will be featured each day.
Responses are published exactly as submitted, without editing, and are presented in alphabetical order by last name. Links are also provided below to all answers from each candidate and their respective campaign websites.
Question #1
How will you ensure that growth does not outpace the town’s capacity for infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, safety, technology, utilities)?
Mayoral Candidate Answers
Mike Kondratick
The rate of growth the Town has maintained, especially over the past four years, has already outpaced our infrastructure. The thousands of residential units and almost half a million square feet of commercial space in our pipeline point to continued infrastructure strain.
Development often feels like it’s happening to us, rather than for us.
The question for this election is how we can put policies in place that help us make progress in a better direction:
• We need to change the way we evaluate development opportunities moving forward. Rather than “development at all costs,” we need “development when it’s worth the cost.” Residents have told me that, if we’re accepting more traffic from continued development, we need to be getting something significant in return. Future development needs to be tied to significant infrastructure improvement.
• To the degree possible, we need to coordinate our development decisions with NCDOT’s schedule. Developing at the corner of Avent Ferry and Cass Holt in 2026, when NCDOT’s schedule to widen that section of Avent Ferry is 2028, is a good example.
• With $800 million in transportation needs in Holly Springs, more of our budget needs to be dedicated to traffic and transportation projects, especially as additional tax dollars from our large employers are realized in the years to come.
Having additional money not only allows us to be less dependent on developers for infrastructure upgrades, but it also allows us to pursue projects with our regional and state partners more aggressively.
We can also better serve neighborhoods with specific traffic needs. We should be able to cover all, or most, of the cost to put a traffic light in front of Woodcreek, for example.
• We need to make a bigger effort to get cars off the roads. Having more transportation money on hand allows us to plan for the expansion of public transit. We can also create a carpooling app to help the vast majority of residents who travel outside of Holly Springs for work to coordinate their commutes.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Sean Mayefskie
As Mayor, I’ve led with a commitment to managing Holly Springs’ growth responsibly. We’ve secured $245 million from NCDOT for major road improvements through 2032 — with some already entering the design phase. I also spearheaded a $45 million investment to secure long-term water supply through a regional partnership with Sanford and Fuquay-Varina. We’re using fiber infrastructure to help DOT adjust traffic signals in real time, improving flow and safety. In my next term, I’ll continue advocating for thoughtful planning that supports both residents and businesses — ensuring growth enhances, not overwhelms, the charm that makes Holly Springs special.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Council Member Candidates
Joe Cuccurullo
The Town of Holly Springs, under the leadership of Council and in coordination with Staff and advisory boards like the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment, already has a process in place that emphasizes responsible growth. Right now, fewer than 20% of development applications make it all the way through to completion, which shows how selective and rigorous the process is. The truth is developers often complain Holly Springs is expensive and difficult to build in. Our municipal budget is $117 million. We don’t have much room in the budget to fund our own infrastructure and utility upgrades, meaning when we say developers need to pay their fair share - this is how improvements at scale generally happen. This is important. Therefore, if we are going to have meaningful conversations about how we prioritize important services for residents like adding medical (emergency and diagnostic), family entertainment, Arts and Culture, Affordable and Workforce housing - it is important that residents understand the current process. Paying for upgrades before demand exists sounds right - but it is rarely an economic reality.
The Town has made major investments that put us in a strong position for the future. Through a joint effort with other municipalities, a $500 million water infrastructure expansion is underway and $236 million in NCDOT funding is committed for improvements along NC-55, Avent Ferry Road, and Sunset Lake Road, Holly Springs Rd. (West), and intelligent traffic signaling.
When new developments are proposed, the town requires contributions throughout the process: developers pay fees-in-lieu, road widenings happen along their frontages, utilities are upgraded, greenways and sidewalks are connected, and stormwater and sewer upgrades can be required, and the water resource policies are followed. These checks and balances are built into the system, and they ensure that growth does not move forward without improvements to match or capacity that can handle it.
Looking ahead, we need to keep that balance. That means prioritizing service gaps, making sure we bring in the types of projects that truly add value to our community, and keep development at a pace our infrastructure can absorb. I believe we can achieve this by tightening approvals to around 15% of projects while still targeting economic development that enhances Holly Springs. This keeps our growth smart, sustainable, and aligned with the high quality of life that brought so many of us here in the first place.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Annie Drees
As an engineer, I am something of an infrastructure nerd. I don’t want to worry about the paint color of the bridge before I know it is structurally sound. Let me walk you through how I prioritize infrastructure in my development approvals.
There are a number of measures currently in place to evaluate a development to the town’s capacity for infrastructure. Each development project is reviewed by the different departments working for the town, and the list below includes ones pertaining to this question:
• Utilities & infrastructure staff for availability in water, sanitary sewer and reclaimed water. Development services staff review the traffic impact. The current water/sewer mains are assessed with the necessary improvements needed to support these developments and any additional installation of infrastructure added is done by the developer. Our water resource management policy helps prioritize the needs of a new development and incentivizes open space/tree preservation, public infrastructure developments, work force housing, and sustainable design.
• Development services ensures that each development evaluated for the amount of daily trip generation and the impact it will have on off-site intersections and these numbers are used to place the development into a tier. These tiers determine the type of required traffic studies to be performed. The studies are used to determine the amount of transportation improvements that the developer is required to perform.
• Police and fire evaluate new developments and report back on whether the response times to those new developments would meet their target response metrics. When a development falls outside of those response times, the town will evaluate whether a planned new station would resolve this timing.
These reviews are provided along with an overall recommendation which town staff provides to Town Council
As a Town Council Member, I evaluate these reports carefully. I look closely at needed improvements in water and sewer because I believe we need to be planning for the future. If a development is in a new area that will require future re-sizing of water or sewer infrastructure than what the developer is sizing for, I see that as a negative for the development. If a new fire station is needed to meet targeted response times, I consider whether that new station would be online before the development is occupied. Lastly, if the developer is unwilling or unable to complete the mitigation measure recommendations from the traffic study or this development or I believe these measures to be inadequate, I view this as a negative for the development.
The reality is there is a demand for housing in Holly Springs, and approving the right developments will make life in Holly Springs more affordable for everyone. However, we must choose these developments thoughtfully to ensure they don’t exceed our capacity and we can grow sustainably.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Tim Forrest
Managing growth responsibly has been one of my top priorities on Town Council. Holly Springs is one of the fastest-growing towns in Wake County, and the only way to protect our quality of life is to ensure that infrastructure comes first. That’s why I worked to help secure $236 million in state transportation funding—the largest in our town’s history— to widen NC-55, Holly Springs Road, and Avent Ferry, and to modernize signals with real-time timing. We’ve also expanded our regional water and sewer partnership with Sanford and Fuquay-Varina, which secures long-term capacity for residents and businesses. As a matter of policy, I believe in tying development approvals directly to infrastructure readiness. In fact, only about 20% of development proposals are approved, and those are the projects that deliver clear community benefit. Developers must also contribute through fees and impact payments so that growth helps pay for roads, utilities, parks, and public safety. Looking forward, we must continue investing in public safety facilities and staffing, ensure technology and utilities keep pace, and expand greenways and sidewalks that provide safe alternatives to driving. The bottom line: growth is inevitable, but it must never outpace infrastructure. My commitment is to plan ahead, hold developers accountable, and keep Holly Springs a community where families can thrive without sacrificing safety, mobility, or quality of life.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Kara Foster
Holly Springs is one of the fastest growing towns in North Carolina. Since 2010, our population has grown by more than 86 percent, and we are now home to roughly 46,000 residents. That kind of growth is exciting, but it also comes with big challenges. When neighborhoods and commercial projects are approved without matching investments in infrastructure, the burden falls back on residents in the form of traffic, stressed utilities, and safety concerns.
My approach is to tie new development approvals directly to infrastructure readiness. If the water and sewer system, police and fire departments, or road networks cannot yet handle more people, then the project should not move forward until those needs are addressed. We must hold developers accountable for contributing their fair share to infrastructure costs through impact fees, and ensure those dollars are reinvested locally in the roads, parks, and utilities that growth requires.
At the same time, we need to be thoughtful about how we grow. I support mixed-use hubs, redevelopment of underutilized land, and walkable neighborhoods that add vibrancy without spreading unchecked sprawl. This is how we strengthen our tax base in a way that protects quality of life.
In short, growth is not bad, unchecked growth is. If we focus on infrastructure first and put our community’s vision at the center, we can make Holly Springs a place that is thriving, connected, and sustainable for the next generation.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Sarah Larson
Currently, the Town requires developers to pay for infrastructure including water lines, road widenings, sidewalks, green spaces, etc. These projects offset the cost to the resident and allows for much needed infrastructure to be completed. However, it can give the impression that we are relying on developers to fund progress in order to keep taxes low. With the increased infrastructure funding, it has become expensive to build in Holly Springs.
Residents are our number one stakeholder in our community. Developers don’t live with the aftermath once their projects are completed. We do. If elected, I would ensure that developers are held accountable and delivered on their promises. I will continue to ensure that the projects brought forward align with our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), which is designed to set clear, consistent expectations for growth and hold both developers and the Town accountable.
Responsible growth means balancing property rights with the public interest, and it starts with communication. Too often, residents feel left out of the process or blindsided by projects. I want to expand communication about what projects are being considered, what the process looks like, and how residents can share feedback at each step.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Josh Prizer
Growth and Development is necessary to keep our town thriving for the following reasons:
Keeping up with Infrastructure improvements necessary in a growing and older town.
Keeping the burden of updating infrastructure from hitting that taxpayer in their wallet.
Making sure we have the housing and services that are going to be able to serve the current and future residents of this town.
Taking the above into account, this has to be done strategically. We have to spend a lot of time assessing what is currently approved, what is a priority and not a priority from an infrastructure standpoint, and where are the gaps in infrastructure that we can fill in the near future. We also need to plan out for the next 20 years and make a strong plan to pace towards that.
Links: (candidate submittals, website)
Be sure to look for candidate answers to Question #2 tomorrow!