A Greensboro developer, Deep River Partners, has filed plans with the city of Mebane to build a mixed-used development with 90 townhouses and 38,000 square feet of commercial space, near the intersection of Mebane Oaks Road with Old Hillsborough Road.
The developer is requesting annexation in order to connect to city utilities.
The site is near Walmart and Garrett Crossing shopping center and spans a total of 27.16 acres on three separate parcels. The preliminary plans list the street address for the proposed mixed-use development as 1446, 1462, and 1470 Mebane Oaks Road.
Deep River Partners is requesting R-8 zoning for the residential component of the project. The proposed site is currently zoned B-2 for general business and R-20 for residential.
Deep River Partners is proposing to build 90 townhouses that would have a density of 5.34 dwelling units per acre.
The developer’s preliminary plans show that the townhouses would be constructed as about 19 separate buildings, with three to six units each and a minimum separation of 30 feet between the buildings.
The residential component of the project would cover 16.86 acres of the total 27.16-acre site. The townhouses would be for rent and would feature three-bedroom floor plans. The townhouses would have a total of 180 parking spaces (two per unit), with 47 on-street parking spaces, two of which would be handicap-accessible.
A portion of the property at the rear of the townhouse buildings would be designated as a common area/open space, which would back up to the treeline, a 20-foot landscape buffer, and the Haw Creek.
[Story continues below layout of proposed development and photo of current intersection at Mebane Oaks and Old Hillsborough roads.]
The commercial component would have five buildings on 6.86 acres that would have a 20-foot vegetative buffer at the front and eight-foot landscaping buffer behind the buildings. The commercial buildings would front Mebane Oaks Road (near the future location for Summit Church and a third fire station) and back up to Wilson Road. The preliminary plans show that the commercial buildings would have 50-foot minimum lot widths, with 25-foot front setbacks, 30-foot rear setbacks, and maximum building heights of 70 feet.
The five commercial buildings would have an average of 7,600 square feet each (for a total of approximately 38,000 square feet), based on the preliminary plans that the developer has filed with the city.
The townhouses would have a minimum lot width of 20 feet, with front and rear setbacks of 20 feet, side setbacks of 30 feet, and maximum heights of 50 feet.
The commercial portion of the project would have an eight-foot landscape buffer along a future extension of Wilson Road.
Approximately 5.94 acres would be designated as open space/common area.
The developer is offering to pay the city in lieu of providing 2.07 acres of public recreation space; instead the developer has designated 11,400 square feet (about a one-third of an acre) as public recreation space. Current amenities include a 10-foot multiuse path and common area. The proposed development would be built in a single phase, based on the plans that have been filed with the city.
Streets within the commercial portion of the development would be dedicated as public streets, while other streets connecting to the residential portion would be private and would be maintained by a homeowners’ association.
Following staff review and any modifications that the city might require the developer to make, the proposal would next go to Mebane’s planning board for consideration at a future meeting, the date for which has not yet been set. Next week’s planning board meeting has been cancelled due to a lack of submissions ready for consideration.
The three parcels targeted for the mixed-use development are currently owned by: the heirs of D.D. Mebane; the William Weldon Mebane Life Estate and Danny Lee Mebane; and Betty Kerley Mebane, Robert Fitch Mebane, and William Weldon Mebane.
The plan has thus far been through three staff-level reviews since March 28.
