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Environmental board recommends wider buffers, native plants and solar conditions for North Salem mixed‑use rezoning
Summary
The Apex Environmental Advisory Board recommended a set of environmental conditions for a proposed 32.3‑acre North Salem Street PUD — including wider buffers, higher native‑plant percentages, pet waste stations and PV/EV readiness — and voted to send those recommendations to planning staff.
The Environmental Advisory Board on Monday recommended environmental conditions for a proposed 32.3‑acre planned unit development at North Salem Street and All Wheel Drive, and voted to forward those recommendations to planning staff.
Matthew Carpenter, an attorney with Parker Poe representing the developer Merit Group, presented the project as a mixed‑use PUD with roughly 250 multifamily units and 200 townhomes and said the plan would preserve a prominent on‑site pond and place buffers around the adjacent stream. “The existing pond will be preserved,” Carpenter said, and the concept retains stream buffers and a conservation area around the pond.
Why it matters: The site is one of the larger remaining tracts close to downtown Apex; how it is built will affect nearby older neighborhoods, pedestrian access and critical on‑site environmental features, including wetlands and a pond that neighbors reported attracts wildlife.
Board members pressed the applicant on tree preservation and buffer widths. One member said they counted about 150 markers on the developer'provided tree study and asked what the strategy is to offset removal of large trees; Carpenter said the project will meet required RCA (required conservation area) percentages and invited recommendations from the board on replanting conditions. Bob Zumwalt, the project'landscape architect (Kimley‑Horn), said a large Willow Oak at the south edge will be preserved and incorporated into a pocket park: “There's a 65 inch Willow Oak at the south edge of the site, and we're gonna preserve that and incorporate it into a pocket park.”
Members proposed a package of environmental add‑ons the board wanted staff to transmit to planning: increase native landscaping from 70% to 75%, require 1 pet‑waste station per 25 residential units, allow pollinator habitat and naturalistic landscaping in covenants, require at least one transit stop with a shelter on site, protect riparian buffers (several members urged a 30‑foot buffer in front of townhomes along North Salem) and add solar and EV readiness measures (external 220‑volt outlets for townhomes, conduit and shared PV sized to supply common areas).
Carpenter said the applicant will take those suggestions back to the developer and staff and refine the PUD text; he noted the project is still working through traffic and TIA comments. The board then moved the package of recommendations and approved it by a show‑of‑hands vote.
What's next: The board will forward its written recommendations to planning staff for inclusion in the application packet; staff said applicants will be asked to either return for a second EAB meeting or provide a letter explaining which recommendations they adopted and which they cannot meet and why.
