Keylock Storage gets zoning change

HAYDEN — Mayor Steve Griffitts cast the tie-breaking vote here Tuesday night to rezone two central business district lots as commercial.

According to Hayden Senior Planner Donna Phillips, Keylock Storage at 9906 N. Government Way consists of three lots split between central business district and commercial zones. Two of the lots comprise 1.64 acres zoned for CBD and one lot comprises 3.3 acres zoned commercial. The applicant requested a zone map amendment to make all 4.96 acres zoned commercial. The applicant also submitted a special use permit to make the entire 4.96 acres a mixed use business park for an office building located near N. Government Way, and self-storage located to the south and east of the road.

At a March 5 public hearing, the planning and zoning commission deadlocked on the zone map amendment question, with separate votes to approve and deny the amendment request resulting in 2-2 ties, Phillips said. The commission did, however, approve the special use permit for a mixed use business park “contingent upon the approval of the zone map amendment by the city council,” she added. After the March 5 commission hearing, applicant Dale Gephart of Architects West found that a separate commercial zone already existed in the downtown area. The commission didn’t know about that fact when it held its own hearing on the amendment application, observed council member Matt Roetter.

Community and Economic Development Director Connie Krueger said self-storage is a “legal non-conforming use” in the CBD which cannot be expanded because over time, non-conforming uses are intended to be phased out. The self-storage company was grandfathered into the CBD years ago, she said. If a business owner built new self-storage units in Hayden today, he could only do it in a light industrial zone, Krueger said. There’s no other light industrial in the downtown area and the zone map amendment would avoid spot zoning, she added.

“This is about operationally having more storage available. To do that they need to address the zoning,” Krueger said.

Gephart explained that following the amendment, the owner intended to do away with Keylock’s outdoor parking spaces to make way for dozens of new storage units, add climate control to some storage units on the CBD lots, and replace an existing office building on the CBD lots with a smaller one. The drive lanes would be improved from gravel to asphalt, landscape screening may be installed, and stormwater will be contained onsite and treated, Gephart said.

City attorney John Cafferty pointed out that the zone map amendment would allow the property owner to use the property for any uses allowed in commercial zones.

Roetter said, “This business has been here in Hayden for 40 years or so and predates the CBD. The way I see it, unless we approve this change they will not be able to do the design upgrades to improve the property.” He added, “If a business is willing to spend the money to improve their property and we can help that, I’m for it.”

Council member Richard Panabaker expressed his support for the change. Council member Jeri DeLange said due to the business’ long history, she concurred with Panabaker and Roetter in supporting the zone map amendment. Council president Roger Saterfiel, however, objected to the amendment, fearing what may happen down the line under new ownership.

“Once it’s rezoned commercial, 10 years down the road if the present owner decides to sell the business, now you have that space that’s commercial on both sides of the business district,” Saterfiel said.

The idea of the CBD is to make downtown Hayden more attractive to new, small businesses, he said. Businesses following the CBD regulations have spent good money doing so, he explained, asking how fair it would be to them to put a commercial zone in their midst “that could be who knows what in 10, 20 years from now?”

Krueger explained that Keylock’s improvements could be facilitated three other ways. One, the city could modify its list of non-conforming uses to allow property owners to fill in their entire properties with non-conforming uses. That would apply to every property citywide, she said, which led Griffitts to dismiss it out of hand. Another option would be a zoning development agreement, which Krueger said is challenging because such agreements are not always well-written to contemplate all future uses. Lastly, the CBD zoning could be changed to include self-storage as one of its allowed uses, she said.

After taking a short break, the council further considered the alternative routes Krueger had explained, and whether to forego a decision on the zone map amendment. After hearing more of Saterfiel’s concerns and discussion of the possible alternatives, DeLange reversed her support and expressed that she also shared Saterfiel’s view. Griffitts then asked for an up-or-down vote on the amendment application. DeLange and Saterfiel voted no, with Panabaker and Roetter voting in favor. Griffitts cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the zone map amendment.