'TWEEN TOWN: MEBANE GRAPPLES WITH GROVWH AS THE TRIANGLE'S EXPANSION SPREADS WEST.

• Author: Burritt, Chris
• Position: TOWNSQUARE: Mebane

Patricia Bigelow has sold German Johnson tomatoes, yellow squash and other goods at the corner of West Clay and North Third streets in Mebane for 15 years. Increasingly, she says, many of her customers have moved here from elsewhere. Next to her under a green tent, Roosevelt Perkins, another longtime vendor at the downtown farmers market, nods in agreement. "I like the growth in Mebane," Perkins says. "But on the other hand, more people moving in means it's not the sweet little town it once was."

These observations, as simple and unadorned as a pint jar of Bigelow's pickles, frame the debate about the future of Mebane and how city leaders might reshape its historic downtown to accommodate a doubling of population over the next two decades. Mebane, which sits in Alamance and Orange counties and has a population of about 15,000, is adding about 1,000 residents a year. That growth pushes the projected tally to 32,000 in 2035, says Cy Stober, the city's development director.

Newcomers are attracted by housing that's typically less expensive than in its Orange County neighbors in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. Mebane is also a 'tween town: Its central location on the interstate makes it convenient for commuting to high-paying jobs in the Triangle and Triad.

A short distance from the farmers market, a two-block stretch of West Clay Street has grown in popularity among out-of-towners. They poke around the coffeehouses and shops selling clothing, jewelry, flowers and home accessories without the congestion and parking shortages of nearby Hillsborough and Carrboro. On a Saturday morning in July, more than a dozen cyclists with the Carolina Tarwheels Bicycle Club in Chapel Hill pedaled to Mebane for coffee before returning home.

West Clay Street isn't Mebane's only shopping district, and it's certainly not best known. Motorists exit Interstate 40/85 to shop at Tanger Outlets, Walmart, Lowe's and dozens of national retailers such as Starbucks that congregate around big-box stores. Given the competition along the interstate, Mebane officials are eager to lure newcomers downtown, figuring many will return to patronize its homegrown, eclectic merchants.

"Once they go downtown, people say, 'My God, there is more than Tanger [outlet center] here,'" said John Barnhart, a Mebane resident and real-estate agent who's involved in the downtown revitalization efforts.

By year-end, city officials plan to pull together a redevelopment plan with some features, such...