Mebane City Council Calls Special Meeting to Address Budget, Parks, Equity

Mebane City Council will sit for a special meeting Thursday, April 9, to consider spending $2.9 million on two new park sites, take up early FY 2026-27 budget discussions, and revisit the future of the city's Racial Equity Advisory Committee.

The park land proposals would draw from Mebane's general capital reserve fund, which is built from annual tax collections and general fund reserves. The first site is a 32.7-acre tract at the intersection of N.C. Highway 119 and Mebane Rogers Road, offered by former city councilwoman Jill Auditori for $1.4 million. The property sits just outside Mebane's municipal limits but within its extraterritorial jurisdiction and is zoned R-20, which permits public parks. Any competitive athletic fields would require a Special Use Permit.

The second proposal would spend $1.5 million on 50 acres along West Ten Road, east of Mebane in western Orange County, from the owner Seven Mile Farm. Because the tract falls outside both the city's limits and its ETJ, Mebane officials have said annexation and rezoning must precede the transaction. The council will be asked only to authorize the purchase Thursday; annexation and rezoning votes would come separately. Seven Mile Farm has historically leased the acreage as farmland, which city staff estimates will keep mowing costs low until recreational development begins.

Both acquisitions align with the Recreation and Parks Comprehensive Master Plan the council adopted in March 2024, which found the city will need additional recreational land to keep pace with sustained growth.

The Racial Equity Advisory Committee, a seven-member body formed in 2021 and charged with identifying racial disparities across city government and advising council on equity policies, also lands on Thursday's agenda. The committee, known as REAC, has been part of ongoing debate in Mebane about how local government addresses equity concerns.

The budget component will give council members a preliminary look at FY 2026-27 spending priorities as Mebane manages one of the faster-growth trajectories in Alamance County. The special meeting convenes at Mebane City Hall, 106 E. Washington Street.