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Planning board recommends ONI rezoning for 1111 South 5th Street to allow Children’s Campus child care center
Summary
The Mebane City Planning Board voted to recommend rezoning a 1.88-acre parcel at 1111 South 5th Street from R-20/R-6 to Office and Institutional (ONI) to accommodate a proposed daytime child care center operated by Children’s Campus; the recommendation goes to City Council on Jan. 5.
The Mebane City Planning Board on Wednesday recommended approval of a rezoning request for a roughly 1.88-acre property at 1111 South 5th Street that would change existing R-20 and R-6 residential zoning to Office and Institutional (ONI), allowing the applicant to pursue a child care center at the site.
"We are here to request rezoning for our — we're calling it 11:11 South 5th Street," said Ryan Gunzel, chief operating officer of Children's Campus, describing the company's intent to operate a daytime-only child care facility with onsite playgrounds and parking. Gunzel said the company aims to offer "good child care at an affordable price" and compared the proposed site to its Durham and Chapel Hill locations.
The planning board's recommendation includes a finding that the application is consistent with the Mebane 2045 comprehensive plan's urban-neighborhood designation, which staff said supports mixed housing types and activity nodes designed to enhance walkability. City staff noted water service is available at the site but said sewer would need to be extended at the developer's expense; staff told the board that sewer routing and any required easements would be resolved during technical and site-plan review.
A Hudson Drive resident, Ron Williams, told the board he believes an underground storage tank remains on or near the site from a former gas station and urged that any contamination be remediated before paving or development. A city staff member responded that remediation and sewer routing would be determined through the site's technical review and noted that extending sewer through adjacent private properties would require easements from those owners; staff identified a frontage connection from Prospect Drive to South 5th Street as the most likely right-of-way option.
Gunzel told the board the company is family owned and locally operated, described two existing local centers with capacities the company said are about 200 children each and a smaller center of about 100 children, and—speaking generally—said a "total capacity" figure of about 450 children (the transcript did not make clear whether that referred to the proposed Mebane center or to the applicant's combined network). That statement was presented as the applicant's claim and was not independently verified at the meeting.
A committee member moved to approve the ONI zoning as presented and to find the application consistent with the goals of the Mebane 2045 comprehensive plan; another committee member seconded the motion. The planning board voted in favor with no recorded opposition and will forward the recommendation to the Mebane City Council for final consideration on Jan. 5.
Planning staff also reminded the board that consultants are preparing revisions to the adopted comprehensive plan for posting and printing. The meeting adjourned shortly afterward.
Sources: Planning board meeting transcript; on-the-record statements by Ryan Gunzel (COO, Children's Campus) and resident Ron Williams.
