Council approves three‑story climate‑controlled storage at South Lowry despite neighborhood objections

The Smyrna Town Council voted to approve a rezoning that will allow a three‑story, roughly 78,277‑square‑foot climate‑controlled self‑storage building at the intersection of South Lowry Street and Stewart Drive.

Planning staff told the council the developer requested a rezoning from PRD with LSO (planned residential development with large‑street overlay) to PID with LSO (planned industrial development) to build a three‑story storage facility that will appear four stories from Lowry Street because of a partial basement. Kevin, planning staff, summarized the proposal and exceptions being requested to front setback, tree requirements and parking counts.

The item drew sustained public comment from residents of nearby Southside Villas and adjacent streets. Frank Mancuso, who identified himself as a member of the neighborhood homeowners association, asked the council to table the item and said, “I am on the board of the HOA … I was here a year. I never got a letter saying it was being proposed.” Dasia Davis, a resident on Latimer, urged the council to protect property values and neighborhood character. Robin Wright told the council the project would “block those people’s natural sunlight.” Other speakers — Dan Eppright, Tiffany Beatty and John Hendricks — also said they opposed a storage building at that location.

Council discussion focused on land‑use consistency, scale and precedent. Several council members said the building design shown to the council was higher quality than a typical storage box and would generate less daily traffic than a comparable residential development; one council member said aloud that a storage building could be “a better neighbor than 21 townhomes.” Other council members repeatedly raised concerns about the building’s height, the reduced front setback from the required 40 feet to 25 feet, the planned access using a private drive maintained by a homeowners association, and the impact on sunlight and neighborhood character.

Planning commission minutes and staff materials supplied to the council noted the developer sought several exceptions from the LSO requirements, including a reduced Lowry Street setback, modified awning requirements and an exception to the required number of parking spaces (the ordinance minimum of 26 would be reduced to 22 by exception). Planning recommended approval with conditions; the Planning Commission vote had been split during its review.

On the council floor a motion to deny the rezoning failed 3–4. The council then voted on an affirmative motion to approve the rezoning; the mayor called the motion carried. The council did not record individual roll‑call votes in the public discussion recorded in the meeting video available for this session, but the clerk announced that the motion carried by a 4–3 margin.

The council approval allows the applicant to proceed to the site‑plan stage, where staff said the project will be reviewed in detail for landscaping, sidewalks and other engineering requirements. Staff also noted that site plans and any utilities that propose to use the private Southside Drive will require agreements with the owners of that private street.

Neighbors asked the council to consider mitigation measures — improved notice procedures for adjacent owners, traffic controls, and possible gating or maintenance agreements for the private drive — during the site‑plan review. Council members said those topics could be addressed in the conditions of approval and the later site‑plan and construction phases.

The developer must still obtain final site‑plan approval, secure any necessary easements or private access agreements, and meet the LSO landscaping and buffering requirements as applied in the detailed site‑plan review.