Mebane, NC Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

The rule sits inside Mebane's landscaping and screening standards, which apply to site plans and subdivision plats required for new development, redevelopment, and qualifying additions across the City of Mebane's planning and zoning jurisdiction. Under UDO § 6-4(A)(3), single-family and two-family dwellings on their own separate lots are exempt from most of Section 6-4 aside from a required front-yard tree, so the invasive-species prohibition chiefly binds commercial, institutional, multi-family, and subdivision landscaping plans reviewed by the Zoning Administrator. Every plan submitted under Section 6-4 must draw at least three tree species from stock that is native or adapted to the Mebane region, and Appendix G of the UDO lists the city's recommended plant materials.

Any species that the NC State University Agricultural Extension or the NC Department of Agriculture classifies as invasive cannot be counted toward the plan's required trees, shrubs, or ground cover, and the code goes further than a bare prohibition: it directs that any invasive material already present be removed and replaced. That removal duty dovetails with the ordinance's general maintenance clause, UDO § 6-4(M), which requires property owners, HOAs, and tenants to keep required landscaping healthy and to replace dead, missing, or damaged material with locally adapted vegetation that meets Section 6-4's standards.

The Zoning Administrator inspects the completed landscaping before issuing a permanent certificate of occupancy and will not sign off if the required plantings, including the species mix, do not conform to the approved plan.