Mebane’s city council has approved a revised and expanded mixed-use development, Creekside Village, at the northeast corner of Mebane Oaks and Old Hillsborough roads Monday night.
What had been a 27.16-acre project with five lots for commercial development (totaling 38,000 square feet) along Mebane Oaks Road and 90 rental townhouses when it was approved in 2023, was now on the city council’s docket for consideration of two additional commercial parcels and additional townhouses on a total of 37.68 acres. The townhouse portion had grown to 128 townhouses.
Nathan Duggins, a Greensboro attorney representing Deep River Partners, the developer for the project, noted that the main entrance into the project had been significantly improved. “We made a much better interchange with Mebane Oaks Road,” he said, noting that the entry now lines up with the Evolve apartment complex that is slated to be built on the other side of Mebane Oaks Road. A traffic light will now govern access. The secondary entrance will have a right-in/right-out limitation onto Mebane Oaks Road.
The entrances into the six front-facing commercial lots will be reached only through Wilson Lane, a public street that is to run behind the length of the commercial property (from its current location opposite the entrance into Walmart and ultimately intersect with Old Hillsborough Road).
Illustrations of various businesses with whom the developer has worked in the past were shown, although both Duggins and Steen Spove, one of Deep River’s partners, refused to say which specific companies were interested in the Mebane project.
For his part, mayor Ed Hooks told the developer that Mebane’s “most pressing need” is for a steakhouse, noting the Texas Roadhouse restaurant shown in the group of businesses with whom Deep River has worked previously.
Also included as photo illustrations were an Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Krispy Kreme Donuts, Firehouse Subs, and a medical office building.
Meanwhile, the streets inside the townhouse portion of the project, which is located at the back, will be private streets, although built to city standards. But because they’re only to be 26-feet wide, they will be ineligible to be transferred to the city at any point in the future, since the city requires a 31-foot width, the council was told.
A five-foot wide sidewalk with be constructed along the commercial property’s frontage along Mebane Olds Road; interior roads will also have five-foot sidewalks. Meanwhile, a 10-foot wide multi-use path would be build along Old Hillsborough Road.
The townhouse portion of the project will have a playground area, picnic area, fenced dog park, and a mulched walking trail.
Agreeing that the new entrance improves the traffic flow for the project, councilman Jonathan White made the motion to approve the rezoning for the expanded project, which passed 4-0, supported by Sean Ewing, Montrena Hadley, and Katie Burkolder. Councilman Tim Bradley was absent due to recent surgery, it was explained at the outset of the meeting.
