Mebane, NC Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Mebane layers its own historic-preservation review on top of ordinary zoning whenever a property sits inside a designated historic district or carries a landmark designation under N.C.G.S. Chapter 160D, Article 9, Part 4. Two UDO provisions show how that review reaches different kinds of construction. Section 4-2(B)(4), citing N.C.G.S. 160D-702, forbids an accessory building in a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places from having a metal exterior facade, a materials rule the City added by amendment on August 11, 2008 and updated June 6, 2022.

Separately, Section 4-7.9(F), covering small wireless facilities, requires any wireless equipment placed in a designated historic district, or on property the City has designated a landmark, to first obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission, a requirement added June 7, 2021. That Commission is the body Mebane created under state historic-preservation law to review exterior changes inside its historic districts and on individual landmark properties, and its Certificate of Appropriateness process sits alongside, not instead of, the standard zoning or special-use permit the UDO otherwise requires.

A property owner planning exterior work on an accessory building, a wireless installation, or any other change inside a historic district should check with the Historic Preservation Commission before applying for a building or zoning permit, since Commission approval is a separate prerequisite the Planning and Zoning Department will look for during permit review.