Apex planning board approves Hopson Gateway rezoning and related transportation-plan amendment

The Apex Planning Board on Nov. 10 recommended approval of the Hopson Gateway planned-unit development rezoning (24CZ20) and a companion amendment to the Apex Transportation Plan after staff presentations, an applicant briefing and public comment.

Planning staff said the transportation-plan change shifts a proposed major collector and roundabout to avoid driveway conflicts and to locate a preferred stream crossing. Shanna Cox, Long Range Planning Manager, told the board that Transportation & Infrastructure, Parks & Recreation, Fire and Police reviewed the amendment and recommended approval.

Applicant counsel Matthew Carpenter of Parker Poe and representatives from ACRE Management described the project as a land-exchange-driven redevelopment that reconfigures ownership along Perry Road to consolidate the developer’s and the town’s sites. Carpenter said ACRE will construct the full realignment of Perry Road through its property, install a new traffic signal at Apex Peakway and Perry Road, and build a major collector with bike lanes, a 10-foot side path and sidewalk. Carpenter gave the developer’s estimate of roughly $6,000,000 in transportation improvements and said ACRE will fund a sewer extension (about $4,000,000) to remove nearby pump stations and provide permanent gravity sewer.

The rezoning lays out two districts: District A (up to 220 townhomes) and District B (up to 400 units of townhome/multifamily) with a reserved area sufficient for at least 300 future apartments. The applicant committed to an affordable-housing condition that will reserve at least 20% of apartment units in District B for households at 80% of area median income for 30 years; project materials translate that to roughly 80 income-restricted units if 400 multifamily units are built.

Board members’ discussion centered on transportation, interim traffic routing and buffering between town-owned service uses and future housing. Board member Preston urged stronger visual and landscape buffering for a town yard-waste area planned on the town’s portion of property and pressed staff about language that allows the town some flexibility from standard UDO design rules; planning staff said that flexibility has been codified in the UDO for town projects but acknowledged citizens’ sensitivity and recommended appropriate conditions.

Traffic engineers and staff addressed an apparent transcription error in the trip-generation table: one staff table listed 200 multifamily units, but the engineers confirmed the study and calculations were based on 400 multifamily units (3,642 daily trips in the build scenario). The applicant and staff said the developer’s improvements were designed to address existing congestion and to provide early signalization once warranted; the project also includes transportation-fee commitments for nearby intersections where ACRE’s proportional share of signalization costs would be paid as a fee-in-lieu when appropriate.

Residents who spoke during the public hearing raised questions about Army Corps of Engineers approval for a stream crossing, cost allocation for off-site improvements, school-capacity letters that referenced incorrect unit counts, emergency-access routing, and neighborhood impacts such as noise and tree removal. Staff and the applicant said that if the Army Corps will not permit disturbance at the stream crossing immediately, the developer would stop short of the stream and pay a fee-in-lieu for the remainder until future connectivity permits a crossing.

After deliberation, the board approved the transportation-plan amendment first and then voted to recommend approval of the Hopson Gateway rezoning with the additional staff conditions discussed during the meeting. Board members asked staff and the applicant to accelerate signal warrant analysis and pursue earlier installation of signalization where feasible.

The matter will move to the town council with the board’s recommendation and the conditions as recorded in the staff report and the applicant’s proposed plans.