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Neighbors prompt 30-day pause on proposed Oceana bulk storage yard near Progress Lane
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Summary
After several residents testified about loss of wooded buffer, truck movements and chain-link fencing, the Planning Commission voted 10-1 to defer for 30 days a conditional use permit for a bulk storage yard at 464 Progress Lane to allow the applicant and staff time to explore site-design changes and additional mitigation.
The Planning Commission on Jan. 14 voted to defer for 30 days a conditional use permit application from Oceana Development LLC for a proposed bulk storage yard and associated office/warehouse at 464 Progress Lane after multiple neighbors testified in opposition.
Applicant Greg Schmidt (Kinley Horn) described the proposal as a contractor laydown yard and a 30,000-square-foot office/warehouse intended to store construction materials such as reinforced concrete pipe, storm drainage inlets and plastic piping for temporary staging. Schmidt said the site is in APZ 2 and the greater-than-75 ACU noise zone and that the design retained jurisdictional wetlands and proposed an enhanced category-2 landscape buffer with an additional row of evergreen trees and screening. He said the closest house is "roughly 280 feet to the fence line," and that larger deliveries would be routed to the side away from neighborhood rear yards.
Several neighbors told commissioners they oppose locating a laydown yard at the residential edge. Heather Cook, who lives directly adjacent, said the proposed yard "sits immediately next to the single-family homes" and would bring heavy equipment, staging, truck loading and unloading that would reduce privacy and quality of life. Other residents described a long-standing wooded buffer that would be removed and questioned whether newly planted evergreens would provide meaningful screening for years.
Commissioners raised site-design questions including whether the building could be front- or side-loaded to reduce truck traffic near homes, whether additional permanent fencing could be required, and whether the parking/loading configuration could be altered. Several commissioners suggested a short continuance to allow the applicant to work with staff and neighbors on layout and buffering; Vice Chair Beiler moved to defer the item 30 days. The motion passed on a recorded vote of 10 to 1.
What happens next: The applicant and staff will have 30 days to explore design changes (including possible relocation of loading areas, additional screening or fencing) and to return with revised materials or commitments for conditions to mitigate neighborhood impacts before the commission re-hears the item.
