Mebane mayor breaks tie to approve southside park land purchase

The Mebane City Council’s 2-2 split on a $1.5 million Southside park parcel put Mayor Ed Hooks in the deciding seat, and his tie-breaking vote pushed the city toward buying 50 acres off West Ten Road even as staff warned that using reserve money on land would force more borrowing for Fire Station 4.

Hooks, who said the moment was only the third or fourth tie-breaker of his six years as mayor, sided with Mayor Pro Tem Tim Bradley and Councilman Jonathan White over Council members Montrena Hadley and Sean Ewing. The vote advanced the West Ten Road tract, east of Gravelly Hill Middle School, as part of a broader two-park plan worth about $2.9 million, including a separate 32.7-acre site near N.C. 119 and Mebane Rogers Road.

Finance Director Daphna Schwartz laid out the tradeoff during a 20-minute recess: if the city buys both park parcels now and uses available reserves, it would have to borrow the full $6 million planned for the city’s fourth fire station on the west side. Schwartz told council members that would add about $200,000 a year in interest over 20 years, or roughly $3.6 million more in financing costs.

That is the central budget choice now facing Mebane. The city’s April 9 budget work session listed Fire Station 4 West End - Design-Build at $6 million, with $4.5 million in debt proceeds and a $1.5 million transfer from the General Capital Reserve Fund. The same presentation said the station would need nine new positions in fiscal 2027-28, at an estimated annual cost of $1,004,815, once it opens.

Recreation and Parks Director Aaron Davis said the West Ten Road property would let Mebane build larger soccer fields for players older than 10, a pitch that fits the area’s existing sports footprint. Orange County’s Soccer.com Center next to Gravelly Hill Middle School already has five full-size lighted fields, one youth field and a paved walking track. Orange County Schools is also planning a new elementary school on West Ten Road beside the middle school, a $50.9 million project that has been moving through procurement.

The southside site also carries zoning and annexation complications. City staff said the parcel sits outside Mebane’s limits and outside the city’s ETJ, and recommended annexation and light-manufacturing zoning before purchase. That drew resistance from Lamar Proctor Jr. and Colin Cannell at the April 6 meeting, when critics said the council was moving too fast and Proctor warned the park could be the “first domino” in changing the rural character of that part of Orange County.

For Mebane, the vote shows a city willing to bank land now for growth, but only by tightening the squeeze on public safety financing. The parks move up; the fire station still leads the capital list, but at a higher borrowing price.