Mebane council unanimously approves annexation and B‑2 conditional rezoning for Sheetz at Buckhorn Road

The Mebane City Council voted 5–0 to adopt a notice to extend the city’s corporate limits to include about 10.875 acres on Buckhorn Road and unanimously approved a B‑2 conditional district rezoning to allow a Sheetz convenience store, City Manager Richard White said.

White, describing the applicants as Nepalese Investment Group LLC (Bal and Raja Sharma) and Joseph and Filomena Matthews, said the site-specific plan calls for a roughly 7,000‑square‑foot convenience store with a drive‑through, a fuel canopy with five diesel dispensers, about 45 passenger‑vehicle parking spaces and roughly 38 semitruck spaces. "A convenience store gas pump is planned for this property," White said.

White said a traffic impact analysis was required and that the North Carolina Department of Transportation determined the developer would be responsible for widening freeway ramps onto and off Buckhorn Road, installing traffic signals at the Buckhorn Road/Buckhorn Industrial Parkway intersection and new signals at the freeway exit ramps, and adding turn lanes leading into the site.

Mayor Hooks noted the council found the rezoning consistent with the city’s 2017 comprehensive land development plan, Mebane by Design, as presented to the council. White added that right‑of‑way dedication, a sidewalk along the site frontage and associated roadway improvements are part of the project requirements.

The council’s action was procedural: adopting the notice to extend corporate limits and approving the rezoning cleared local approvals needed before permitting and site work can proceed. City staff did not give a timeline for construction or say when the developer must complete NCDOT improvements.

What happens next: city permitting and any required state approvals for the road work remain; specific construction and opening dates were not specified in the update.