Ben Myer takes pride in his neighborhood at the Edge of Auburn. “It’s a beautiful community,” he said. But Myer told WRAL Investigates many of the perks, like the pool and basketball court, are constantly overrun by people who don’t live there.
“These pop-up parties seem to be happening weekly lately. It’s between 20 and 50 teens show up,” he described. “We’re paying for a pool, we’re paying for a basketball court, beautiful development, walking trails, and people are scared out of using it.”
WRAL Investigates requested calls for service at Edge of Auburn. Between Jan. 1, 2025, and June 15, 2026, Garner police responded to 16 disturbances, six fights, 35 security checks and 31 suspicious activity calls within the neighborhood.
Less than five miles away, residents at Trace at Olde Towne are dealing with similar issues.
Through a similar request, WRAL Investigates found that Raleigh police responded to 30 disturbances, 17 suspicious activity calls, 17 suspicious persons calls and 28 trespassing calls for that neighborhood.
More than a dozen people from the Olde Towne neighborhood showed up to share their experiences with WRAL Investigates.
“What happens is you have a kid or someone who will knock on the door, and they’ll bang on the door real hard, and whomever is in here they’ll open the door, they’ll prop the door,” Old Towne resident Deborah Clifton said.
“There’s a couple of cases where we have resident teenagers, maybe one or two resident teenagers who are using or getting the fob access and then letting in just droves of teenagers at one time,” Olde Towne resident Dev Mashruwala said.
WRAL Investigates also found at least four flyers on social media for parties or “takeovers” at these community pools and clubhouses this summer.
“It’s not a good feeling when you are actually scared for your life in the place that you call home, the place that I spent so much money and so much effort to try and to make a dream for myself,” Mashruwala said.
When WRAL Investigates asked Raleigh police for an interview, the department referred us to an email with neighborhood trends:
- Officer-initiated calls for service are up 54%, while 911 calls have decreased.
- Assaults are down 50%.
- Loud noise calls are down 8%.
- Trespassing violations are down 45%.
Raleigh police said officers responded to three calls for service at the Trace at Olde Towne pool that did not result in charges.
“Overall, the available data indicates a reduction in reported criminal activity and quality-of-life complaints, while proactive police activity has increased,” Lt. David Davis wrote in an email to WRAL.
What’s being done to stop these “takeovers?”
While Raleigh Police Department data shows an overall decrease in neighborhood property crimes and disturbances, residents say those statistics don’t capture the weekly anxiety of seeing dozens of non-residents flood their private amenities.
Residents shared pictures and videos with WRAL Investigates showing crowds of people in the pool area and around the community. In one instance, a video captured a fight that turned physical between residents and non-residents. It’s not clear what led up to that fight.
“Literally [police will] show up, and they’ll stand there while all the nonsense is going on, and they cannot do anything because the trespassing documentation wasn’t signed,” Myer said.
These communities are private property. Without a formal agreement or HOA representative on scene, law enforcement is limited in how they can intervene.
“Private communities can present limitations because certain HOA rules or community policies are not enforceable by law enforcement. Our authority is based on state law and local ordinances, not HOA regulations,” Capt. David Casteline, with Garner Police, wrote in an email.
WRAL Investigates requested interviews with both Elite Management Professionals, the HOA for Edge of Auburn, and Professional Properties Management, the HOA for Trace at Olde Towne.
We asked:
- What is the HOA doing to address these unauthorized “teen takeovers”/parties?
- What are the community policies/rules/regulations around large gatherings?
- If a resident is found to be involved in some way (for example, a parent of one of the teens), are there any consequences for violating community rules?
- Have you considered allowing resident(s) to have authority to authorize trespassing citations by police?
A spokesperson for Lennar, the builder of Edge of Auburn, responded, saying they have hired private security to patrol community amenities and are working with Garner Police to cite trespassers.
“The community has a significant shared investment in its amenities and the Board is committed to keeping them safe and accessible to residents,” spokesperson Aaron Curtiss wrote in an email.
The HOA executive vice president for Trace at Olde Towne told WRAL Investigates they could not comment on an open law enforcement investigation. However, our questions primarily focused on policy, regulation and response – not any specific incident.
“The HOA maintains several channels of internal communications with its members and will continue to do so,” executive vice president Jennifer Burch wrote in an email.
Residents tell WRAL Investigates they believe the HOAs in both communities have taken minimal action.
“They’re not hammering down concrete issues that they’re tackling, but it’s more of like ‘we’re working on it’ sort of thing,” Myer said. “I mean I guess that’s the best we can hope for. You know it’s better than what it’s been. I mean I rather get that than no response.”
“The HOA is almost non-existent,” Guadarrama said. “They exist whenever they collect the dues, but beyond that, I don’t believe that they’ve taken the appropriate steps.”
Residents say they have requested higher fencing, more security cameras and a review of fob use in community spaces.
“Kids should not be able to just come in here without any adult supervision,” Clifton said. “I’m not saying that kids should not be welcome to come and use these amenities, but they should be able to come here freely and feel safe when they’re coming.”
