Need a secure, dry place to stash your stuff?
John Esther and Phillip Mach may have a solution, it just might be a while.
The business partners are working to get a rezone from the borough that would allow them to build a storage facility on their Zimovia Highway lot, midway between TK’s Mini Mart and Panhandle Trailer Court.
According to Mach and Esther, the project “would include three metal buildings with lighting, security cameras and locked gates.”
The buildings would be constructed one at a time, as Esther and Mach would need to wait for a revenue stream before building the second and third structures. The first building would hold 20 units, each unit 20-by-10-feet. The units would not be heated but would have electricity.
Additionally, the pair hopes to offer enclosed boat storage, something they believe is in “high demand” in Wrangell, a need corroborated by other operators of self-storage facilities.
Bloom’s Trailer Court maintains two separate storage facilities of comparable size to Esther and Mach’s proposal. According to a spokesperson for Bloom’s Trailer Court, these “large units” are always full, and there are always people waiting for a unit to come open.
As for Esther and Mach’s hopes, the plan is stalled due to issues with rezoning the parcel.
Back in May, the duo applied to rezone the lot from single-family residential to light industrial, a change that would allow them to run a business on the property like the storage facility.
But at its July 13 meeting, the planning and zoning commission unanimously voted against the motion to rezone. The borough assembly took up the commission’s recommendation at its July 23 meeting and sent the issue back to the commission for a further recommendation on how to best handle the request.
The assembly and zoning commission’s hesitancy about issuing a full rezone is not because of what Esther and Mach want to build on the property, but what could happen to it years down the line.
According to Kate Thomas, the borough’s economic development director, rezoning a parcel to light industrial allows for “transportation and transshipment facilities, warehouses and storage, manufacturing, fabricating and auto repair.”
The issue for members of the planning and zoning commission, the assembly and also for the property’s neighbors is what could happen if a future owner of the parcel opts to open a far noisier, far more intrusive business than a storage unit.
The fear is someone could purchase the parcel from Esther and Mach and set up something like an auto repair shop. Considering the parcel is wedged between two single-family residences, a noisy establishment like a mechanic or a repair shop could be a disturbance, according to those against the rezoning. For its detractors, the issue is not the policy, it’s the possibility.
While Esther and Mach are aware that any future uses of the property are uncertain if new owners take over some day, they said they intend to maintain a quiet, subdued storage facility.
“Our ultimate goal is to run a high-level, clean and quiet storage yard for our customers while placing importance on being good neighbors through mitigation efforts including operating hour restrictions, lighting restrictions and vegetation setbacks,” Esther and Mach wrote to the assembly on July 17.
One solution, discussed at the July 23 assembly meeting, rather than a full rezone of the parcel, could involve a “contract zone” — which would allow storage units to be built on the three-acre lot with some additional restrictions. For example, a contract could establish that a storage facility is the only business permissible on the land. The borough has issued contract zones only a handful of times in the past.
The issue with contract zoning, according to Borough Manager Mason Villarma, is that it opens up the borough to potential discrimination lawsuits. Because the assembly can pick and choose who they make these exceptions for, there is no consistent precedent or law that acts as a one-size-fits-all methodology. Instead, contract zoning would be considered on a case-by-case basis, something that might result in legal inconsistencies, he cautioned.
While Villarma believes the borough needs to move away from contract zones, he is advocating for such a contract for the Esther and Mach parcel, citing equity as the primary reason. Villarma believes that as long as the borough has issued contract zones for previous projects, it should continue to do so in this circumstance.
There is no timeline for the planning and zoning commission to reconsider the issue for another recommendation to the assembly, but Esther and Mach said they hope to proceed as soon as the plot is rezoned.
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