Middleton council restricts RV, auto and mini-storage to industrial zones with adoption of Ordinance 7-10

The Middleton City Council on July 2 adopted Ordinance 7-10, amending Title 5, Chapter 4, Section 5-4-01, Table 1 of the Middleton City Code to limit locations for mini self-storage, recreational-vehicle (RV) storage and auto storage to the city's industrial zones.

The change, approved by voice vote with no public testimony at a June 9 Planning and Zoning public hearing, removes storage-type uses from downtown commercial and mixed-use zones and directs those uses to M-1 and M-2 industrial zones, planning staff said.

Planning staff presented the ordinance as a response to repeated inquiries about RV and storage facilities and a concern that storage yards are visually incompatible with the downtown commercial corridor. "Staff is requesting a revision of these uses to keep RV storage, whether it's attached to mini warehouse or not, in the industrial zones and only industrial zones," Planning staff member Roberta Stewart said during the council meeting.

Stewart told the council the revision would align the code with the city's comprehensive plan goals to promote attractive commercial development and to direct potentially unsightly storage facilities away from pedestrian-oriented corridors. She said Planning and Zoning recommended approval, finding the change "keeps Middleton's downtown commercial corridor more attractive."

Councilors moved and seconded adoption of Ordinance 7-10 during the meeting; the council president called for the ayes and the motion carried. The council also noted that storage uses previously allowed by negotiated development agreements (for example, a storage parcel tied to a quarry development agreement) would remain governed by those individual agreements.

Stewart and council members discussed that the code change would not prevent storage uses from being included in a development agreement or approved as a specific conditional entitlement tied to a master planned development, but that placing storage in the zoning use table as an entitled use for commercial/mixed-use areas would make it harder to restrict in the future.

The ordinance includes standard severability language and an effective date; the council adopted the ordinance during the July 2 meeting.

The council did not receive any public testimony at the hearing; Planning and Zoning's recommendation and the staff report were listed as the basis in the findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The council's action amends the city's zoning use table and will be reflected on official zoning maps and in the next update of the development code.