Mebane’s city council will consider the city planning board’s recommendation to rezone 7.28 acres along Gibson Road, in the city’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ), in order to allow property owner Chris Fuqua to expand his existing automobile towing and storage business.
The property affected by the rezoning to light manufacturing is at the front of the property, along Gibson Road closest to his existing business. It is currently vacant and largely forested, according to the city’s planning department.
Michael Hudson, an attorney representing Fuqua, noted that Fuqua’s existing company next door is zoned for heavy manufacturing. The light manufacturing request for the 7.28 acres is for auto storage, Hudson described.
Hudson said there will be an 8-foot fence around the storage area, which planning board member Colin Cannell characterized as an “impound lot.”
Planning board member David Scott also ascertained that the stored cars would typically be there for short periods of time, not become a long-term storage lot. Fuqua said, typically, cars are not there for more than a week.
The remaining 40 acres of the same property will remain R-20, under the pending rezoning request.
The planning board approved the request unanimously, 7-0, at its April 14 meeting. Voting in favor were Cannell, Scott, chairman Judy Taylor, vice chairman Kurt Pearson, and planning board members William Chapman, Susan Semonite and Ed Tulauskas; Gale Pettiford and Keith Hoover were absent.
The city council will consider the rezoning at its upcoming May 5 meeting.
