Council approves rezoning and SUP for three‑story 5 Star Storage with ban on truck rentals

The Fate City Council on Dec. 2 approved a rezoning (ordinance O-2024-066) and a specific-use permit (ordinance O-2024-067) for the 5 Star Storage Fate project, a three-story, climate-controlled indoor self-storage facility proposed on Industrial Drive. Both votes passed 4–2; Councilmembers Harper and Kelly voted no on both items. The SUP passed with an explicit amendment barring truck rentals on the site.

Planning staff presented a combined report for the zoning request (case ZR24009) and the SUP (SUP24005). Staff said the proposal calls for a roughly 55,000-square-foot building with a maximum height around 41 feet (plus internal mechanical) and noted that the city’s 2021 comprehensive plan designates Industrial Drive as a Business & Innovation Center where heavy-industrial zoning is an appropriate designation for certain higher-impact commercial uses.

The applicant requested two variances: a reduction in the minimum parking requirement (staff said applicant-market experience indicates demand would be lower than standard thresholds) and a waiver of first-floor glazing requirements typically used to provide street presence. Staff recommended approval subject to conditions, including requiring a publicly noticed Type 3 site plan and consolidation/replat of the two lots prior to site-plan submittal.

Council discussion focused on market saturation (a councilmember said the city currently has about five storage facilities), parking impacts, and whether the facility would allow outdoor vehicle or RV storage or truck rental. The applicant’s representative, Brian Bach of Advantage Construction, told council the project would be approximately 95% climate controlled, controlled-access, include on-site management during business hours, and that there is no plan for truck rental or outdoor RV/trailer storage on the parcel. Staff added that those uses would require separate entitlements and that the Type 3 site-plan review would include turning radii, fire access and other operational details.

After public hearing (no speakers signed up), Councilmember S13 moved to approve the rezoning ordinance O-2024-066; the motion passed 4–2, with Councilmembers Harper and Kelly recorded as voting no. Council then approved O-2024-067 (the SUP) with an amendment prohibiting truck rentals; that motion also passed 4–2.

Staff’s fiscal analysis presented at the meeting estimated the project valuation at approximately $10.25 million at build‑out, producing about $20,000 in City property tax revenue in year one and an estimated net revenue to the city (after proportionate service costs) of roughly $9,600–$13,700 annually depending on road-replacement cost accounting, with longer-term gains over multiple decades.

Conditions attached to the SUP require a Type 3 site plan and consolidation of lots prior to the site-plan filing; the SUP also includes the no-truck-rentals amendment approved by council. The Type 3 site-plan review will allow public notice and Planning & Zoning review before final council action on the site plan.