First Baptist Church in Mebane, which bought land for future expansion 10 years ago, is now apparently ready to move forward with the project – at least in terms of getting the necessary rezoning.
The church has a rezoning request for the property at the corner of South Third Street and Gibson Road (listed as 940 Gibson Road) pending with Mebane’s planning board, which will consider the item at its Monday night meeting.
The church is seeking to rezone its 22.57-acre corner lot from light manufacturing to office and institutional (conditional district) for construction of a 21,955 square foot daycare center, as well as for a future church location. The lot, which is now just a vacant field, is in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). Annexation would be required before future connection to city utilities, according to city officials.
Plans submitted to the city do not include any layout or timeframe for the future church construction.
The plans do show the layout for the daycare center, which would be 21,955 square feet with a fenced play area, parking lot, landscaping, and stormwater control measures.
The church bought the property in October 2015 for $682,500; its tax value is listed as $805,241.
According to a description of the plans, the church will construct a 5-foot wide sidewalk along both South Third Street and Gibson Road, initially in front of the daycare portion and then “extended with future development of the site” along all of both sides of the property’s frontage on both South Third Street and Gibson Road.
The church is asking that the remainder of the rezoning be approved without any specification of the remaining layout of the future church building itself, except that “future development will comply with City of Mebane standards and requirements.”
The current First Baptist Church of Mebane, which is located at 301 South Third Street in Mebane, is landlocked, thus limiting potential future expansion.
