Growing Apex Thoughtfully

Posted on Wednesday, October 6, 2021

During my time on the Apex Town Council, I’ve constantly tried to figure out how to balance our small town charm, the strong demand for new housing, and our school/road capacity. One metric I’ve calculated is potential rate of growth, which is the number of rezoned housing units each year multiplied by the number of people in each household divided by the total population. To make things simple, I’ve assumed 3 people per household. Between 2014 and 2017, the previous Town Council averaged 1800 housing units per year with an estimated 2017 population of 50,000. That works out to an 11% annual potential growth rate. Since I’ve been on the Town Council between 2018 and 2021, we’ve averaged 1200 housing units per year with an estimated 2021 population of 70,000. That works out to a 5% annual potential growth rate.

I don’t know what the perfect rate of growth should be for Apex, but I do expect the actual growth rate in Apex to go down in the next few years as the housing units that the current Town Council approved are built. With that lower growth rate, I believe that our school and road infrastructure will have a better chance to catch up and that all residents will be better able to enjoy the small town charm of Apex that we know and love.