Mebane, NC Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Mebane's Unified Development Ordinance builds owner-occupancy directly into the accessory dwelling unit standard rather than leaving it to a separate covenant. Under § 4-7.4(A)(2), the accessory dwelling unit 'shall be owned by the same person who owns the principal dwelling unit,' which the Planning and Zoning Department reads to bar splitting title or financing the ADU away from the main house, whether the unit is attached, carved out of the house, or a separate detached structure. The same subsection limits every single-family lot to one accessory dwelling unit, so a homeowner cannot add a second unit once the first is built.

It also blocks stacking an ADU onto a lot that already carries a two-family or multi-family dwelling, or a family care home, keeping the accessory use tied to genuinely single-family property. Finally, the ordinance keeps an ADU strictly residential: a home occupation, the small home-based business use permitted elsewhere in the UDO, cannot be run inside the ADU itself. Together these requirements mean the ownership rule is not a standalone deed restriction but part of the same permit standard that governs an ADU's size, setback and district eligibility, so a zoning permit application that fails the ownership condition is denied on the same review as one that fails a setback.