SNOW HILL – A text amendment approved this week will allow self-storage facilities up to 40,000 square feet in the general commercial district.
On Tuesday the Worcester County Commissioners approved a text amendment that will allow self-storage facilities of up to 40,000 square feet in gross floor area in the C-2 general commercial district. Previously, such facilities have been limited to 15,000 square feet or less.
The change was proposed by attorney Hugh Cropper on behalf of Arden Center LLC.
“We think it’s consistent with the intent of the code,” Cropper said.
According to county staff, Cropper initially presented a text amendment that would have allowed self-storage facilities larger than 15,000 square feet by special exception and would have created a new subsection of code to allow those centers to be up to 40,000 square feet in size.
“Upon review the staff felt that since self-storage was much like warehousing which is already allowed to be up to 100,000 square feet in gross floor area in the C-2 general commercial district by right, it was not necessary to stipulate that self-storage up to 40,000 square feet required a special exception,” wrote Ed Tudor, director of development review and permitting, in a report to the commissioners.
Instead, staff proposed a simpler amendment, the one eventually approved this week.
“Mr. Cropper readily concurred with the staff’s assessment and adopted our language as his revised application,” Tudor wrote.
On Tuesday Tudor told the commissioners the Worcester County Planning Commission had reviewed the amendment and given it a favorable recommendation. The commissioners voted 6-0, with Commissioner Joe Mitrecic absent, to approve the change.
