At the top of the March 11 Hastings City Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Chris Teiken swore an oath of office for his next term, Gino Messian was reelected Chair and Rob Halberg reelected Vice Chair.
The meeting was then dedicated to reviewing the proposed site plan for Storage Werks. City Planner Justin Fortney presented the site plan proposal for this storage rental facility to be located at 2489 Spiral Blvd.
The plan gives background on the property. Rick Ries of Northern State Services LLC owned just under 20-acres. Last year he bought approximately 3.5 acres between his property and Spiral Blvd. from the city of Hastings. This acquisition allowed him legal access to Spiral Blvd. and to subdivide the property into two 10-acre lots, meeting the minimum district standard. He was also approved for on-site septic systems and had planned to build his home on the northern lot and sell the southern lot. He abandoned this plan; this property has been clear cut, and the northern lot was sold.
Chad Smurawa has applied for the storage rental facility site plan to be able to develop this land. He has recently constructed self-storage units on two city owned industrial park lots at 3001 Lightbourn Court and 2030 Spiral Boulevard. The proposed units will be of a similar design. The property slated for this proposed plan is zoned as Agricultural, which does allow for storage rental facilities but is subject to site plan review.
Commissioner Messian expressed concern about the safety of accessing the property from Spiral Blvd. as it is on a curve and elevated and has had some issues during inclement weather. He also wondered if there was enough room allotted for fire trucks to move freely around the property and buildings. The plan proposes the driveway will be on the south side of Spiral Blvd. The plan was modified to accommodate vehicle queuing and firetruck maneuvering but the plan will be reviewed more closely to determine if there is adequate space. There were also concerns about whether cars would be backed up onto Spiral if the gate malfunctioned or if a line up occurred. The plan, however, did state that parking is not required and there is space for vehicle unloading within the drive aisles.
The overall look of the development was of concern, going from a wooded area to looking more industrial.
The commission agreed Smurawa’s other self-storage facilities were well-maintained and attractive. Based on the size of the site, the zoning ordinance requires the planting of 80 trees and 65 shrubs. Smurawa proposes to install a decorative aluminum fence along Spiral Blvd., a vinyl coated black chain-link fence along Glendale Road and the north property line, with a galvanized fence along the west.
Commissioner Chris Teiken asked when the landscaping would be put in. Smurawa explained how the phases would proceed. “All of the excavation and site work will be done in month one, let's say for the entire site. So that all will be done so it'll all be to the correct contour. Then what will happen is it's going to get over-seeded so it'll look like your backyard, or you know something of that nature, and it will remain in that state. I think we can take under very good consideration that we would put in the trees then along Glendale because like I said we will have all the excavation done, we'll have all of our points set on the site, which again are required just for Minnesota water quality standards, which will be meeting code whereas right now, for example, this isn't meeting the rules, it's just because it's in an undeveloped state… So, as a passerby you would see our fence up, you'd see the decorative gate up, you'd see the landscape on the hill because that's where the majority of it will be going.”
Another question to Smurawa, what is the timeline associated with the landscaping? He stated that the site work less the trees would probably be finished by mid-June and then do the seeding immediately thereafter before the water erosion control barriers can be removed. The plan states the following schedule: Phase One: June 2024-May 2025, Phase Two: June 2025-May 2026 and Phase Three: June 2026-May 2027.
After thorough review of the proposed plan, the commission approved forwarding it to the city council with the addition of two conditions which were to work with engineering to improve the driveway entrance and to not allow outdoor storage. The motion passed with all except Messian voting yes.
