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Cumming planners approve variances for self-storage project with design and buffer conditions
Summary
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved variance application 2025003 to allow construction of self-storage warehouses subject to Design Review Committee approvals, a landscape plan, no warehouse along road frontage, decorative fencing, signage permits, and added buffer conditions for adjacent homeowners.
The Cumming Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 18 approved variances for a proposed self-storage development, imposing multiple conditions including design review, a landscape plan, and restrictions on placement of storage units along the road frontage.
The applicant, identified in the packet as seeking variance application 2025003, requested several dimensional variances: reduce a required buffer from 30 feet to 20 feet and taper it to 5 feet in places shown on the sketch plan; reduce a setback abutting residential districts from 60 feet to 20 feet; remove a screening requirement; and permit two-story buildings where the code typically allows only one-story for similar warehouse uses.
Howard, the applicant presenting the proposal, described the project as an enclosed self-storage facility. "Phase 1, I think, is 104 units," Howard said; he added that if the development were built out it could total "in the neighborhood of 5, maybe even as much as 600 units," depending on unit sizes.
Planning staff recommended approval of the variances with a set of conditions. Staff listed required conditions including: submission and approval of road-frontage building elevations by the city’s Design Review Committee before issuance of LDP (land-disturbance permit); a full-site landscape plan approved by the Development Review Committee prior to LDP issuance; prohibition on placing mini-warehouse units directly along the road frontage; decorative fencing of at least five feet along the front of the site subject to Design Review Committee approval; and that all facility signage receive approval and permits from the Department of Planning and Zoning before building permits are issued.
A commissioner moved to approve variance 2025003 with the staff-recommended conditions and added a requirement that buffers along the rear of the site adjacent to nearby homeowners be approved by the Design Review Committee; the motion also included a condition addressing clearing and grading consistent with the city’s standards. The motion passed.
The applicant and staff were directed to follow the listed conditions before issuance of development permits; staff will require submittal of elevations, landscape plans, and signage details for committee review as part of the permitting process.
