Mebane city council members voted 5-0 Monday night to approve rezoning for a proposed duplex in the West End neighborhood, an historically black residential area on the western edge of the city.
The developer requested rezoning from R-20 to R-8 to build a duplex on a third of an acre at the corner of Giles and Vance streets.
Each unit would have three bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms per unit and would be targeted to renters 55 and older, Frank Ascot, managing partner for developer TRG Capital, of 723 Churton Grove Boulevard in Hillsborough, told the council Monday night.
There’s a mix of zoning in the area, including residential, general business, and office/institutional, and the proposed rezoning is consistent with property zoned R-8 across Giles Street, city staff said Monday night, noting that the request is consistent with a goal of providing “low- to moderate-density residential development,” as outlined within Mebane’s comprehensive development plan.
Several neighbors worried Monday night about the density of the area, which already has three other duplexes, and whether the developer would accept Section 8 tenants (federal rental assistance to low-income renters).
“The three [duplexes] that are already built on Giles, the average family will have two cars – that’s 12 cars right there on Giles Street,” neighbor DeeDee Vinson told the council Monday night. “It already feels like it’s becoming a hornet’s nest. This particular duplex, it does look like a very nice structure, but again, it’s going to have six bedrooms and five baths. I don’t think we should downplay the fact that it’s two homes in one, and without there being a sidewalk already in front of the three [duplexes] that are already there – it is very crowded.”
“With that comes drugs and crime,” said a neighbor who lives at 609 East Lee Street, referring to Section 8 housing. He said Ascot “wouldn’t commit” when he asked whether he intended to rent to Section 8 tenants. “We don’t know what’s going in the duplexes; there’s no parking,” the East Lee Street neighbor added.
Ascot said later in the meeting, “If widening the driveway is an issue, we have enough room; if we have to go from 12 to 16 [foot driveways] we have enough to do it.”
For each three-bedroom unit, the developer is required to provide 2.5 parking spaces, under the city’s comprehensive development ordinance, city officials said Monday night.
“How could you assure that we address these issues?” council member Montrena Hadley asked city attorney Lawson Brown.
“It would be ill-advised to change it to a conditional zoning at this stage in the game,” Brown responded. “You cannot base your decision on the fact that it’s going to be rental versus owned because under federal Fair Housing Laws, you can’t consider that. You can make a legislative decision considering other factors such as density, etcetera.”
Omega Wilson, cofounder of the West End Revitalization Committee, which owns a house on an adjoining lot, said the plans for the duplex don’t appear to show a fire wall between the two units.
Wilson also said the plan doesn’t show a separation between the duplex and a neighborhood playground; nor does it show a sidewalk on the street side. “The fire protection is primary,” Wilson told the council.
State building code regulations will require the duplex to have a “radiant” fire wall between units, city officials said.
The plans for the duplex also drew similar concerns from neighbors during last month’s planning board meeting, including that the preliminary plan didn’t include a garage for either unit. The planning board voted 8-0 last month to recommend approval by the council.
Ascot had told the planning board that rents would range from $1,500 to $1,695 per month, which he described as “affordable” but said wouldn’t drive down home values for other nearby properties.
Mayor pro tem Tim Bradley made a motion to approve R-8 zoning for the duplex Monday night, noting that concerns expressed “are outside of our scope anyway.”
Voting to approve were: Bradley; and council members Katie Burkholder, Sean Ewing, Hadley, and Jonathan White.
