Apex, NC Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Apex's loading zone framework is split between off-street and on-street authority. UDO Section 8.3.5 (Off-Street Loading Requirements) provides: 'Off-street loading spaces shall be required for industrial, major institutional, and business uses that can be expected to regularly receive or deliver goods, pursuant to the following Off-Street Loading Schedule.' Table 8.3-3 (Off-Street Loading Schedule) requires: 0-40,000 sq ft of gross floor area = 1 loading space, 40,001-100,000 sq ft = 2 spaces, 100,001-160,000 sq ft = 3 spaces, 160,001-240,000 sq ft = 4 spaces, 240,001-320,000 sq ft = 5 spaces. UDO Section 8.3 site-design standards govern the size, location, and access of those off-street loading spaces. On the public street, designated on-street loading zones in the downtown core (and any other location where the Town has signed a loading zone) are designated by the Town through the Apex Traffic Engineering Manager (Sajid Hassan, PE, 919-372-7360), who 'coordinates with other departments including Police, Fire, and Public Works to recommend appropriate traffic control measures, where parking may or may not be appropriate and how to properly designate parking restrictions.' Residents and businesses seeking new or additional on-street loading zones follow the documented request flowchart and form on the Town's Traffic Control & Parking Ordinances page. The downtown time-limit framework (2-hour and 3-hour signed limits enforced Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Salem Street, Chatham Street, Saunders Street, and the Depot/Seaboard/Saunders Lots) includes 15-minute short-stay spaces on N. Salem Street (one on each side), in the Seaboard Lot (2 spaces), the Saunders Lot (1 space), and the Depot Lot (1 space) for very brief loading and pickup. Citywide, NCGS 20-162(a) still controls: 'No person shall park a vehicle or permit it to stand, whether attended or unattended, upon a highway in front of a private driveway or within 15 feet in either direction of a fire hydrant or the entrance to a fire station, nor within 25 feet from the intersection of curb lines or if none, then within 15 feet of the intersection of property lines at an intersection of highways.' No loading zone designation overrides those state-law distance restrictions.