Apex leaders on Friday announced students at Apex Friendship High School will be allowed to park in a woman's front yard for the 2025-2026 school year.

According to Mayor Jacques Gilbert, the property belonging to Annie Scott on Humie Olive Road is now designated as a public vehicle area, adding that it is “no longer a residential lot in the eyes of the law.”

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“It is open for public use,” Gilbert said, who explained the lot is now a prearranged rest area with set hours, rules and supervision.

Gilbert added, “This is not a free-for-all parking lot. It’s a controlled, safety-oriented space I want to make sure the students here in Apex trying to get to school are safe.”

Scott gained notoriety after allowing Apex Friendship High School students to park in her yard. Scott began offering her yard on Humie Olive Road as a space for student parking in 2015. Scott told WRAL News she started offering her yard as parking for the school after parents complained there was no space for their students to park on campus.

Scott says her lot fits up to 56 cars. She charged students $300 per car at the start of the school year and said she offered prorated rates to students who parked there after the school year started.

The Wake County Public School System charged students $200 per space at Apex Friendship High School’s campus.

Town leaders sent Scott a letter in the mail on April 14, 2025, stating 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.

That letter originally prevented Scott from allowing students to park in her yard for the 2025-2026 school year.

“I would like to thank my supporters for supporting me, and I would even like to thank the ones that were against me,” Scott said. 

The approval for Scott to use her yard as a parking lot comes as the town debated allowing more residential parking to accommodate students.

“This issue is bigger than one property,” Gilbert said. “We have a long-term parking deficit that directly impacts our students. Talking about it is not enough. It’s time for solutions.”

Gilbert said he wants Apex Friendship students to know that Scott’s lot will be a safe place for them this school year.

“If you don’t feel safe with driving and don’t have a location to park, this is a safe area for you to be,” Gilbert said.