Commission approves Extra Space Storage redevelopment with reduced parking and forest fee-in-lieu

The City of Frederick Planning Commission voted 3-0 to approve a final site plan (PC 24-1003 FSI) and related forest conservation request (PC 24-1004 FSCB) for a proposed five-story, approximately 85,000-square-foot Extra Space Storage building at 1212 West Patrick Street on the Golden Mile.

Planner Sharon Kemper Suarez presented the staff report and said the site has historically been used as a mini-storage facility and that national parking studies for such facilities support a reduced parking requirement. The applicant requested a modification to the parking schedule (Table 607) to allow nine parking spaces instead of the roughly 97 spaces that a strict application of the LMC would require for the proposed building area. Staff said the applicant’s traffic brief and the site layout provide compensating design features: a loading area and internal circulation that enable short-term customer loading and unloading and the project will not have long-term outdoor storage that typically increases parking demand.

Kimley-Horn representative Mackenzie Mogan described the plan to demolish two existing buildings and construct one five-story building with customer garage doors and a dedicated loading area; the applicant said peak customer visits are short and the site’s operation will require only one employee on shift. The plan includes a revised lighting design to eliminate off-site spill, and staff reported approval of stormwater plans and APFO certificates for water and sewer with a roads exemption because traffic counts did not meet thresholds requiring a full traffic impact study.

The companion combined forest stand delineation and preliminary forest conservation plan found no existing forest or threatened species on the 1.27-acre site; staff said the site has been in its current developed condition for decades. The forest worksheet produced a reforestation requirement of 0.19 acres; the applicant requested a fee-in-lieu. Staff supported the fee-in-lieu after reviewing on-site constraints and the lack of local forest banking options, and reported the computed fee amount of $2,482.92.

Commissioners voted to approve (motions and seconds on the record) the parking modification, the final site plan (PC 24-1003 FSI) and the forest plan (PC 24-1004 FSCB) with staff conditions, including correction of plan notes and payment/calculation of the fee-in-lieu as shown on plan sheets.

Staff and the applicant noted landscaping exceeds minimums in many places (staff cited 53 trees and 12 shrubs in one planting schedule) and that the applicant will screen a dumpster and add supplemental plantings adjacent to residential property to the south. The record shows three affirmative votes; staff listed post-approval conditions to finalize technical plan details during the improvement plan stage.