Apex planners approve UDO changes to create B-3 and HI districts, allow detention centers in HI with separation standards and authorize permanent food-truck "c3

The Apex Planning Board on May 11 approved three separate amendments to the town's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO): establishing a Transitional Business (B-3) district and a Heavy Industrial (HI) district; permitting detention centers, jails or similar correctional facilities only in the HI district with supplemental standards; and creating a permanent "food-truck court" use with design and operational requirements.

Planning staff explained the first amendment would add two new base zoning districts to provide a transitional option along auto-oriented commercial corridors (B-3) and a place for higher-intensity industrial uses (HI). "The B-3 is intended to provide a transitional area between higher-intensity vehicle corridors and lower-intensity zoning districts," Bruce (planning staff) said. The B-3 listing includes numerous commercial uses (accessory apartments, restaurants, artisan studios, small retail, farmers markets) that are similar to existing B-2 uses but intended for higher-quality, site-specific development.

The second amendment would allow detention centers, jails, prisons or correctional facilities only in the new Heavy Industrial district and impose supplemental standards. Staff listed key thresholds: "the site shall be a minimum of 10 acres" and the facility "will be located with a minimum of a quarter mile or 1,320 feet away from any public or private school, daycare, place of worship, or any property zoned or used for residential purposes," plus a required 60-foot opaque buffer around the site. Mayor Pro Tem Mahaffey told the board the change is in part a response to nearby jurisdictions and examples in the region; staff clarified there are currently no heavy-industrial parcels in Apex and the amendment is intended as a code clarification and readiness step rather than immediate local proposals.

During the board deliberations a member moved to increase the minimum separation distance to 1,600 feet; the board approved that change and then carried the amendment to permit detention facilities in HI with the larger separation.

The third amendment sets standards for a permanent food-truck court, defined as an establishment with three or more mobile food vendors that operate with an on-site permanent anchor (restaurant, bar, microbrewery, etc.). Proposed standards include site-plan-designated vendor pads, permanent restrooms (no porta-potties), permanent power to each vendor (no individual generators), a 10-foot clearance around vendor vehicles, separation of vendor areas from parking by fencing or planters, limits on sandwich-board signage, and parking and bicycle-space calculations tied to vendor stalls and indoor dining area.

Bruce said staff consulted property owners and other municipalities with similar provisions while drafting the food-truck language and emphasized the ordinance is intended to encourage higher-quality, permanent food-court developments rather than ad-hoc parking-lot assemblages of trucks. Board members debated whether the requirements would raise development costs and how the rule would affect existing vendor locations; staff said temporary events and festival exemptions remain available through the town code.

Board votes: the first UDO amendment (B-3 and HI districts) passed; the amendment to permit detention facilities in HI passed after the separation distance was increased to 1,600 feet; and the food-truck-court amendment passed on a 7-2 vote after two members recorded dissenting votes.

Next steps: the amendments will be forwarded to town council for consideration; site-specific rezoning and conditional zoning processes will determine where and how the new uses would be applied.