Apex operates a Phase II NPDES MS4 stormwater program administered by the Town's Stormwater Field Services group at (919) 362-8166 and codified in the Apex Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), Article 8. Apex sits inside the Jordan Lake watershed in the Upper New Hope subwatershed (15A NCAC 02B .0265), which historically set nitrogen and phosphorus loading caps of 2.2 lb/ac/yr and 0.82 lb/ac/yr for new development. Apex was also added as a named community in the 2020 revisions to the Neuse Nutrient Strategy, with local implementation beginning July 2024.
Apex stormwater authority sits at three layers. Federally, Apex is a Phase II Small MS4 community under the federal Clean Water Act NPDES program. At the state layer, the NC Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources (NC DEMLR) issues the Phase II MS4 permit, and the NC Environmental Management Commission has adopted both the Jordan Water Supply Nutrient Strategy (15A NCAC 02B .0262 to .0273) and the Neuse Nutrient Strategy. Locally, the Town has codified post-construction stormwater controls in the Apex UDO with the Stormwater Control Measures (SCM) program described at the Town's Stormwater web pages. Apex lies entirely within the B. Everett Jordan Reservoir watershed in the Upper New Hope arm — a public drinking-water reservoir that supplies Apex, Cary, Morrisville, RTP, and parts of Chatham County. The original Jordan Lake new-development rule (15A NCAC 02B .0265) capped new-development nutrient loading in the Upper New Hope arm at 2.2 lb/ac/yr nitrogen and 0.82 lb/ac/yr phosphorus, required no net increase in peak flow for the 1-year 24-hour storm event, and required treatment of the runoff from the first one inch of rainfall. The NC General Assembly suspended the .0265 new-development rule and barred local implementation pending rule readoption, but the riparian buffer rule .0267 and the nutrient offset rule .0273 remain in force, and the Jordan Lake Stage I Adaptive Management Strategy continues. Apex must annually identify two potential SCM retrofit locations within existing development under Stage I. Apex was added as a named community in the 2020 Neuse Nutrient Strategy revisions and began implementing the Neuse new-development requirements in July 2024 — projects in the Neuse River Basin portion of Town must use the NC DEQ Stormwater Nitrogen & Phosphorous (SNAP) tool. Other applicable rules include the EPA-approved 2009 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Swift Creek (impaired biological integrity), enhanced street sweeping in the Swift Creek watershed, the Town's Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) program, and the Riparian Buffer Protection program. Report illicit discharges, illegal dumping, or sediment problems to Stormwater at (919) 362-8166 or via the Town's online Report a Concern portal.
Violations of the Apex stormwater ordinance are enforced under the Apex UDO and General Statutes Chapter 160D-404 et seq. Remedies include Stop Work orders, withholding of the Certificate of Occupancy, civil penalties, restoration at the violator's expense, and revocation of the Erosion Control or Stormwater Permit. Illicit discharges to the MS4 are prohibited under the Town's IDDE program and can trigger additional NC DEMLR enforcement under NCGS 143-215.6A with civil penalties up to $25,000 per day per violation. Violations of the Jordan Lake buffer rule (15A NCAC 02B .0267) or the Neuse buffer rule .0233 expose the violator to NC DEQ enforcement and mandatory restoration with riparian planting. Persistent or willful discharges into Jordan Lake tributaries can also trigger EPA Clean Water Act enforcement under 33 U.S.C. 1319 with federal civil penalties up to $66,712 per day per violation (2024 adjustment).
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Apex, NC
Apex does not have a code provision specifically prohibiting or permitting artificial turf in residential or commercial landscapes. Where landscape material ...
Apex, NC
Apex does not mandate native plants in private landscapes but actively promotes them. The Town's Plant the Peak program installs native trees on residential ...
Apex, NC
Rainwater harvesting is legal and encouraged in Apex. North Carolina state law prohibits local governments from banning cisterns and rain barrels used for ir...
Apex, NC
Apex UDO Sec. 4.5.6 permits one Accessory Apartment per single-family lot. Attached accessory apartments have no size limit. Detached accessory apartments ar...
Apex, NC
Apex Town Code Sec. 13-62 limits Mobile Food Vendors to (a) private property with written owner permission, (b) Town-owned property with the Town Manager's w...
Apex, NC
Apex Town Code Chapter 13, Article IV (Sec. 13-60 through 13-69.5), adopted by Ordinance 2019-0305-02, requires every Mobile Food Vendor and Transient Food V...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in Wake County.
See how other cities in Wake County handle stormwater management.
See how Apex's stormwater management rules stack up against other locations.
Quick Compare
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.