Preliminary site work has started for the Summerhaven subdivision in Mebane that will have 78 single-family homes on 76 acres near the intersection of N.C. Highway 119 South and Kimrey Road, within the city’s extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Summerhaven will be built in two phases, with 37 lots in the first phase and 41 lots in the second, Mebane city planner Ashley Ownbey said Wednesday in an interview with The Alamance News. Construction on the first homes in phase one is imminent, she confirmed for the newspaper.
“The city hasn’t received any [building] permits yet, but probably will soon,” Ownbey said.
The drawings for the second phase remain in progress. The city’s Technical Review Committee (TRC) reviewed the drawings on Tuesday and noted several items that will need to be addressed and presented to the committee for additional review, the city’s planner told the newspaper. “Once construction drawings are approved, they can likely begin the roadwork [for phase two],” said Ownbey.
Meanwhile, the developer recently sold a 14.9-acre portion of the property to the nonprofit parent company for Bradford Academy, a private Christian school that currently operates out of a church in Mebane.
Summerhaven is being developed by Chapel Hill developer Eric Dischinger, through his company Desco Holdings. The developer’s other projects in Alamance County include the Cambridge Park subdivision in Mebane and the Quarry Hills subdivision in Swepsonville.
Dischinger carved out the acreage as a potential site for a private school in early 2020, based on preliminary plans that were presented to and approved by Mebane’s city council at the time.
Ownbey confirmed for the newspaper this week that Mebane’s city council subsequently granted a special-use permit (SUP) that Bradford Academy had sought in the fall of 2020 to allow the construction of a school facility on the property, which was previously zoned for general farm use.
“We reviewed site plans that were presented with their SUP but haven’t received construction drawings that would indicate they would be moving forward anytime soon,” the city’s planner said Wednesday.
The 14.9-acre parcel was sold to The Christian Education Society of Mebane for $830,000 on November 15, 2021, according to the county’s Register of Deeds.
Desco Holdings bought the land for Summerhaven from Kimrey Redlands, LLC of Mebane for $2.3 million in August 2020, according to documents filed with the county’s Register of Deeds at the time and consummated the sale.
Summerhaven will have approximately 4 acres of public recreational space and walking trails, based on the initial plan that Dischinger’s company filed with the city in 2020. The subdivision will also have a private common area, with special access for an adjoining property owner at 2570-K South N.C. Highway 119, according to a deed that was filed with the Register of Deeds’ office on Monday morning.
The project is not within Mebane’s corporate limits, and the developer has shown no inclination to seek annexation. Because Dischinger hasn’t requested annexation, the homes in Summerhaven will have septic tanks on each lot, and water will come from the Orange Alamance Water System.
Ownbey said this week that the city hasn’t been notified of who the builder will be for Summerhaven.
The site for the forthcoming subdivision is located near the former Presbyterian Home of Hawfields, which is now known as Compass Healthcare and Rehab.
Annual reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office list Jeff Johnson, headmaster at Bradford Academy in Mebane, as president of The Christian Education Society of Mebane. He had not responded to the newspaper’s inquiry by press time Wednesday.
Another subdivision by the same developer is getting underway nearby, in Swepsonville at site of former Quarry Hills golf course: https://alamancenews.com/construction-on-former-quarry-hills-golf-course-now-underway/
