Mebane land buys could delay fire station, boost debt costs

Mebane has spent $2.9 million to secure 82.7 acres for future parks, but the bigger question is what the city intends to do with the land now and how much taxpayers will pay if the purchase knocks out money for a planned fire station.

The council approved buying two tracts, a 32.7-acre parcel at N.C. Highway 119 and Mebane Rogers Road and a 50-acre parcel along West Ten Road. City leaders said the land fits plans laid out in the Recreation and Parks Comprehensive Master Plan adopted in March 2024 and the broader Mebane 2045 Comprehensive Plan adopted in December 2025, but the purchases also reach into the city’s budget priorities.

Finance director Daphna Schwartz told the council that using the general capital reserve fund for the land would leave no money in it for the city’s fourth fire station. That would force Mebane to borrow the full $6 million cost of the station, adding about $200,000 a year in debt service for 20 years, or roughly $3.6 million total.

The pressure comes as city manager Richard J. White, III has proposed a 2-cent property tax increase, from 37 cents to 39 cents per $100 valuation, in his preliminary 2026-27 budget. That budget includes $6 million for the fire station and $1.5 million for a southside park, but not the extra $1.4 million northside park purchase.

The land itself raises different development questions. The West Ten Road site sits in western Orange County, outside both Mebane city limits and the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The 32.7-acre tract is west of the city limits but inside the ETJ and is zoned R-20 for low-density residential and agricultural uses, meaning a Special Use Permit would be needed for athletic fields there.

City staff recommended annexing and rezoning the West Ten Road property to light manufacturing before purchase, a step that drew scrutiny from Orange County planning board chairman Lamar Proctor Jr., who questioned whether the park buy could become a backdoor route to industrial rezoning. That concern matters because residents near the parcel may be looking at more than ballfields if the land is eventually folded into the city’s long-term growth plans.

Recreation and parks director Aaron Davis said the 50-acre tract could support larger soccer fields for players over age 10 and could reduce maintenance and supervision costs by keeping fields together. The purchases also arrive as Mebane is asking residents for input on development policy, with transportation, utilities and land use all under pressure from growth.

The city’s fourth fire station is planned near North Carolina Commerce Park off Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, across from the future Buc-ee’s travel plaza. Mebane’s main fire station is at 405 North First Street, and the original station at 103 West Washington Street remains volunteer-only. In a city juggling parks, public safety and growth management, the land buys now carry consequences well beyond the property lines.