The fastest-growing city in the Triad could be welcoming more homes to the area. Developer, Lennar Carolinas, LLC, got first round OK from Mebane's planning board
MEBANE, N.C. — The fastest-growing city in the Triad is living up to its name once again.
More than 500 homes could be on the way to Mebane, the city planning board gave initial approval to a 565-unit housing project adjacent to Mill Creek Golf Course. The total acreage requested is 229.31.
The Preserve at Mill Creek is an expansion of the Mill Creek subdivision brought forth by developer Lennar Carolinas, LLC.
Credit: WFMY News 2
According to the developer's plan, the existing properties that surround the proposed site for The Preserve at Mill Creek are zoned for single-family residential homes. Development Director for the city of Mebane, Ashley Ownbey shares how the new property will be an extension of what was already there.
"In 1993, the city council approved the Mill Creek development partly as we know it today and partly as we don't, it was approved with 840 homes, only about 50% of those homes have actually been built out, so this is kind of a recreation of the 1993 version of Mill Creek so it extends somewhat from a street that two streets that already exist in that subdivision and then we'll have some new extensions and connections to new neighborhoods that have recently emerged," Ownbey said.
A major concern for residents, Ownbey says is traffic.
"We did have a number of folks who attended last night's meeting as the developers' representative indicated, this is a bit of dropping a puzzle piece into an existing area with homes and neighborhoods that have been there for some time or are just being constructed right now so there were a number of individuals who attended and. Expressed some concerns about perimeter buffering what types of homes would be built ultimately the planning board did vote in favor to recommend approval of the request. It was a 7 to 1 vote with one member voting against the request," Ownbey said.
Ownbey says a traffic study was conducted with the developer.
"Both the city of Mebane and the North Carolina Department of Transportation require traffic impact analysis to be conducted when a project of the size comes through. we have reviewed the traffic study that was completed for this proposed development and as a result of that traffic study and our reviews the developer is responsible for installing turn lanes on Stagecoach Road at 9th Street, a traffic signal on Stagecoach Road at North 5th Street And then also around about where they would enter off of North First Street so those are major improvements that the developer would be contributing to the city as well um of course it would handle the traffic they're introducing but also help address any concerns we have now in those areas," Ownbey said.
WFMY News 2's Taylor Leverett reached out to city council members to hear their thoughts on the first round of approval.
"Obviously any time we have a development of that size, the density of the number of homes providing the infrastructure and all our concerns. We push for interconnectivity in all our neighborhoods and the fact that it's not connecting to one concern and obviously the density on the surrounding road systems, not so much water and, and city provided facility, but the infrastructure like Highway 119," says Tim Bradley, city of Mebane Mayor Pro-Tem.
To see the full mock up of the home designs and the Lennar Carolinas, LLC presentation that was presented to the planning board, click or tap HERE.
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