A demand for more student parking at Apex Friendship High School has led to a debate among Apex town leaders about whether to allow residential parking to accommodate students' needs.
During a Tuesday meeting, the Apex Town Council discussed a potential motion, brought forth by Mayor Jacques Gilbert, to initiate an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance related to student parking in residential areas.
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It comes as a longtime Apex resident, Annie Scott, was recently banned from allowing students to park in her yard. Scott says she began offering her yard on Humie Olive Road as a space for student parking in 2015.
“No one said anything,” Scott said during Tuesday night’s council meeting. “2016 is when they started complaining. Parents come to me, asking me for their kids to park because there is nowhere to park. So, I allowed the kids to park in my yard. I really don’t see what the problem is.”
Town leaders sent Scott a letter in the mail on April 14, 2025. It states that the town received a complaint about high school students crossing Humie Olive Road to Apex Friendship High School from their parked vehicles in Scott’s yard. The letter references a previous notification from the Planning Department to Scott in July 2020, stating that residential property could not be used for student parking.
The letter prohibits Scott from allowing students to park in her yard for the 2025-2026 school year, unless town officials approve an application to rezone the area.
"The only reason they want me to rezone is so they can control me,” Scott told WRAL News in an exclusive interview. “I have no need to rezone. I have my own sewer, I have my own water. So, what is it for me to gain other than taxes?
Scott says her yard can fit up to 56 cars. She charges $300 per car at the start of the school year and offers a prorate to students who park there after the school year begins. Meanwhile, Wake County Public Schools charges students $200 per space on campus.
Council member Terry Mahaffey spoke with WRAL News on Wednesday.
"I've received complaints about safety issues, about parking over capacity, about the way the property is structured, people being unable to leave the lot,” Mahaffey said. “There's an assortment of complaints that we can work through in a rezoning process."
Mahaffey opposition to the amendment is not unique. Apex Town Council Member Brett Gantt shares his own concerns.
"I wouldn't want to live in those townhomes right behind this house, where there's a parking lot right behind your home,” Gantt said. “It should be just another residence."
Possible solutions to Apex Friendship High School's parking problems
Mahaffey plans to offer a solution in the form of parking at Apex Nature Park. He says most of the spaces there are empty on a daily basis, providing an opportunity for Apex Friendship High School students to park. Mahaffey says a shuttle could potentially pick the students up from the lot and take them to school.
When asked about the proposition, Gilbert said it simply would not work.
“We don’t have the resources to make that happen,” Gilbert said. “I’ve been an SRO, and I understand the patterns and transportation concerns of students. That’s not going to work. I think that’s just a way to move it away from this viable solution.”
Gilbert tells WRAL News he is siding with Scott, and will continue to push for the ordinance change until it passes.
"Rezonings are costly, " Gilbert said. “Miss Annie [Scott] is not trying to become an elevated commercial business. She is simply trying to solve a problem."
WRAL News spoke on Thursday with Alex Osman, a junior at Apex Friendship High School.
"I don't know what I'm going to do,” Osman said. “I have school practice in the mornings. I have two Wake Tech periods, so I won’t be at school during first or fourth [periods]. So, I can't take the bus to school at all."
Allen Stadiem is a parent who supports the UDO and supports Scott keeping her lot open without rezoning.
"In five minutes, this could have all been cured with a simple motion, a second, and an up-and-down vote,” Stadiem said. “And we could have done something for the kids like we all claim to want to help."
WRAL News also spoke with a man who wanted to remain anonymous, but said he does not support the UDO.
"I can only describe it as a hot mess,” he said. “I bought my home in this development with the expectation that it's a residential area. I could never foresee that we would become a parking lot for somebody else. We're nobody's parking lot."
WRAL News reached out to the Wake County Public School System [WCPSS] to get the district’s input on the matter. A spokesperson said parking at Apex Friendship High School is similar to every other high school in the district; parking is a limited resource.
The district emphasized the fact that all schools have limits on parking, including only allowing juniors and seniors to buy spaces and using a lottery system to award them. According to the WCPSS, the debate of residential parking is an off-campus matter that does not involve the district, but officials are willing to work with the Town of Apex on potential on-campus parking solutions.
Apex Friendship High School had 2,785 students in the 2024-25 school year. The school opened for the 2015-16 school year.