Council member Katie Burkholder sits out discussion, vote
A large, regional chain of daycare facilities won final approval for a rezoning request that would allow the company to build a large facility on 1.88 acres along South Fifth Street in Mebane.
Children’s Campus operates three locations currently – two in Chapel Hill and one in Durham – with a total capacity of 500 children.
The Mebane facility will have a capacity for 200 children, increasing the city’s childcare capacity by almost 50 percent.
According to Ryan Gunzel, who made the presentation for Children’s Campus, there are only six current childcare centers in Mebane now, providing space for about 450 children.
The new center will accommodate children from infants to five-year-olds, Gunzel said.
While no specific building plans were a part of the presentation, Gunzel previously told the city’s planning board that the Mebane location at 1111 South Fifth Street would be similar to the company’s Westminster Drive location in Chapel Hill, which accommodates 200 children.
Mayor pro tem Tim Bradley raised concerns about whether parking would be adequate and about the potential for traffic back-ups along South Fifth Street at delivery and pick-up times.
But Gunzel assured council members that the company was used to working on both issues because of its three similar locations and did not anticipate problems. He said, for instance, that drop-offs and pick-ups are more staggered than with typical public schools so that traffic flow is more “fluid.”
Development director Ashley Ownbey also told the council that the city’s technical review process would also examine the adequacy of both parking and potential traffic impact after the daycare company’s final plans are submitted.
The council ultimately approved the rezoning request on a 4-0 vote, with Bradley, White, Sean Ewing, and Montrena Hadley in favor. Council member Katie Burkholder, who is a real estate agent with the same firm that is handling the sale of the property to the daycare company, asked to be recused from the agenda item and sat out the discussion and vote.
After the planning board’s consideration last month, Gunzel told the newspaper that the company’s purchase of the property, expected by March, that construction could start as soon as about six months after this week’s council approval.
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