Mebane’s planning board will be asked to consider a conditional rezoning request to allow for the construction of 82 single-family homes on 26.44 acres within Mebane’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, on the Alamance County side of the city.
The proposed subdivision, dubbed “Oakview Cove,” would be built at 1026 and 1053 Gibson Road by Smith Douglas Homes (SDH) Raleigh, LLC, which is based in Apex.
The developer has requested rezoning five parcels from R-20 to R-8, along with a reduction in the minimum side setbacks, from 10 feet to 7½ feet. Minimum lot sizes would be 8,000 square feet, or less than a quarter of an acre.
The developer is proposing to pay the city of $37,503 in lieu of providing 2.35 acres of public recreation space required under Mebane’s development ordinance. Oakview Cove would instead have just under two acres of private open space, surrounded by a five-foot natural walking trail with benches. The set aside for private open space would include landscape buffers, an existing pond, and a proposed stormwater control device.
Possible amenities include walking trails, picnic tables, and “grills above the wet pond,” according to the developer’s proposal.
Homes would span a minimum of 1,500 square feet and have features such as: nine-foot ceilings; a covered front porch/alcove; a mix of maintenance siding, masonry, stone, or board and batten on the front façade; a garage with decorative paneling doors; and at least one tree in the front yard.
A traffic study reviewed by the state Department of Transportation and Mebane city staff, showed that the developer would need to construct, at its own expense: a “stop-controlled site access aligned with” Copperstone Way, with one ingress lane and two egress lanes, consisting of an exclusive left-turn lane and a combination thru-right turn lane; a northbound left-turn lane on Gibson Road at the entrance to the subdivision; a southbound exclusive right turn lane at the entrance on Gibson Road; and a sidewalk along Gibson Road.
The proposed site for Oakview Cove is surrounded by existing single single-family homes, townhomes, warehouses, and vacant land, according to an analysis by Mebane’s city staff.
Annexation would also be required before the developer could connect to city water and sewer service.
The developer has contracts to purchase the five parcels, contingent upon approval of its rezoning request.
Smith Douglas Homes says it hopes to target teachers, first responders, healthcare workers, and other local professionals by providing “attainable homeownership opportunities without sacrificing quality or long-term value.” The target market would be buyers earning between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income, or between $70,560 and $105,840.
Potential price points would be below $425,000, the median home sales price between August 2023 and 2024, according to the developer.
The developer held a community meeting on Wednesday, February 4, according to materials that have been prepared for the planning board.
Mebane’s planning staff has recommended approval of rezoning for Oakview Cove while also concluding that the proposal is inconsistent with the city’s long-range development plan.
Mebane’s planning board is scheduled to take up a discussion at its next meeting, at 6:30 p.m. Monday night.
