Apex Town Council 5/13 Meeting Report
Social district, park land purchased, 3rd Party Review Update, S-Line plan adopted
This meeting was notable for the 3rd Party Review update we received, which I’ve already written about and won’t cover again. This email focuses on everything else that happened, beyond the utility billing update.
Social District Unanimously Approved
It took a while, but after a ton of work on staff’s part to collect feedback from Council and citizens, working through various issues that came up (including the exact boundaries changing a few times!), all issues have been resolved and we got to a place where we were finally able to unanimously approve the Apex Social District on the consent agenda.
The most recent issue which delayed from April involved the exact boundaries. Anything CSX related (which includes unfortunately the Depot itself and Seaboard St) is Federal property and thus really complicated to have alcohol served in it so they were out. The Saunders Parking lot also was excluded after what I believe were public safety concerns (we didn’t want to mix cars and alcohol) - but it could be added on a case by case basis through an act of Council for a Festival or similar.
Social District starts June 7th!
Park Land Acquired on Humie Olive
We had the opportunity to acquire a property on the “corner” of some existing park land we have banked. Cost was $437,410. Great opportunity to expand our existing footprint. And to be clear this is the next next park - not the next park that will likely be built from a 2027 Parks Bond.
Honorees!
This was a great night for recognition:
Stephanie Chase received the quarterly Peak Star Award! (Shoutout to APSF)
We recognized Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
We honored National Police Week and Peace Officer’s Memorial Day
And we celebrated Clerk’s Week!
Update From The Apex Chamber
As the Council liaison to the Apex Chamber, I was especially glad to welcome David Bohm, the Chamber’s Executive Director, who gave an update on their work supporting local businesses. If you run a business in Apex, I strongly encourage you to consider joining — the Chamber plays a vital role in our community.
S-Line Mobility Hub Plan Officially Approved
I’ve written about this before, but at the meeting we formally approved the S-Line Mobility Hub plan, which calls for a mobility hub (a combo bike, pedestrian, bus, eventually train station) on Salem Street, kind of across from Tap Station.
That’s it for now. I owe you one more email about the work session we just had yesterday, which was our quarterly public safety update from the Fire and Police Chief. Lots of interesting takeaways.
As always, feel free to reach out if you have thoughts, questions, or feedback. I appreciate hearing from you.
-terry
Maybe just me, but I don’t understand the value of a mobility hub and the long term social and financial trade offs as well as the vision for bringing rail through that area.
We have enough problems with downtown JayWalkers, you are adding alcohol to the mix, you said you didn't want to mix alcohol with traffic in one of yours selections. What were you all thinking?
Also, we are getting tired of all the development on Humie Olive. We bought out here to get away from exactly what you all are shoving down our throats! Enough is enough, hasn't the Depot 499 been enough of an eyesore, without clogging up what was once beautiful land. No common sense, all for the bottom line.
Another Park? Didn't you just invest in the new park off Old 1? How many parks do we need?