{"id":2441890,"date":"2019-03-19T09:43:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T15:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=302102"},"modified":"2019-03-19T09:43:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T15:43:07","slug":"garfield-county-commissioners-postpone-decisions-on-carbondale-area-storage-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/garfield-county-commissioners-postpone-decisions-on-carbondale-area-storage-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Garfield County commissioners postpone decisions on Carbondale-area storage facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
The former Planted Earth nursery site is now proposed for a three-story, 99,000 square-foot self-storage operation that is pending before the Garfield County commissioners.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Garfield County commissioners postponed decisions on two controversial self-storage facilities proposed near Carbondale after public hearings Monday, until they can conduct site visits.<\/p>\n

More than 50 people attended the Board of County Commissioners meeting Monday afternoon to voice their opinions on the two proposed sites. The vast majority were opposed to development.<\/p>\n

One facility, proposed by Blue Mountain Garfield LLC, is planned right across from Catherine Store at the intersection of Highway 82 and County Road 100. <\/p>\n

The other, under the name GO Self Storage, is planned for the site where the Planted Earth greenhouse and nursery used to operate, about a mile east of the main entrance to Carbondale at Highways 82 and 133. <\/p>\n

The commissioners will visit both Carbondale sites April 8, then hold more public hearings at the commissioners\u2019 meeting room in Glenwood Springs April 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be an important decision by this board,\u201d Commissioner Mike Samson said of the proposed Planted Earth site. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am very conflicted, I must say, in some ways. I\u2019ve heard some good points espoused by people today that I need to think about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After public hearings for both proposed facilities, Samson moved to postpone a decision until after site visits, because he is not as familiar with that area of the county.<\/p>\n

County administrative staff did not recommend making land-use permit changes for either the Catherine Store or the GO Self Storage facility that would be closer to Carbondale. <\/p>\n

In a report, staff said the GO Self Storage facility \u201cis not in the best interest of the health, safety, convenience, order, prosperity and welfare of the citizens of Garfield County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to agree with staff,\u201d said attorney David McConaughy, who represented the Down Valley Small Business Alliance, a coalition of undisclosed opponents to the two proposed storage facilities.<\/p>\n

McConaughy presented several exhibits, including maps that showed the GO Self Storage building would be visible from almost the entire town of Carbondale, unless the view was blocked by buildings or trees.<\/p>\n

\u2018GLUT\u2019 OF SELF STORAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The respective applicants argued that there is market demand for their businesses, a point that the owners of two current self-storage facilities in the area disputed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, we have self storage coming out of our ears,\u201d said Travis Stewart, president of All-Valley Storage, which has a facility at Cattle Creek.<\/p>\n

Many of the local self-storage facilities are expanding, adding at least 36,000 square feet of additional storage space, said Mark Gould Jr. of Royal Mini Storage, plus another 80,000 square feet of storage being built in Basalt.<\/p>\n

There is a \u201cglut of storage\u201d capacity in the area, which doesn\u2019t help the \u201ceconomic diversity, but rather creates an epicenter for self-storage,\u201d Gould said.<\/p>\n

Wes Grammer, a land developer with ties to Kansas City, Missouri, is proposing the 99,000 square foot, three-story GO facility nearest to Carbondale. <\/p>\n

Grammer told county commissioners he also was involved with developing the Willits commercial center. The self-storage facility shares some investors with the up-valley shopping area, he said.<\/p>\n

Neighbors of the site spoke of their concerns, including worries about the brightness of the lights in the new facility, traffic impacts, and how self-storage would not serve the local communities as much as Aspen.<\/p>\n

Town of Carbondale Trustee Lani Kitching spoke on behalf of the town\u2019s Planning and Zoning Commission against both proposed developments, which are within Carbondale\u2019s sphere of influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building location, mass, highway proximity and resultant view corridor impact are not compliant with Carbondale\u2019s [Unified Development Code],\u201d Kitching said of the Planted Earth site. <\/p>\n

The developers of the GO facility said they had listened to concerns from the neighbors and adjusted their plans. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve essentially agreed to every request\u201d from the community, Grammer said.<\/p>\n

ASTERISKS QUESTIONED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of the public comments were based on not wanting development to change the rural, scenic and picturesque nature of the area.<\/p>\n

The commissioners held two public hearings on the Blue Mountain Garfield LLC proposal<\/a> for a three-story, 96,000 square-foot self-storage facility near Catherine Store. <\/p>\n

One related to the impact review of a changed land-use permit, and the other was about removing a \u201cresidential only\u201d restriction for the subdivision where the mini-storage facility would sit. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s appropriate,\u201d Moszynski said. \u201cIf they want to see it, they should see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Mountain proposal is based in part on the Garfield County Comprehensive Plan\u2019s designation of Catherine Store as a \u201cVillage Center,\u201d defined as serving the local neighborhood with convenience stores and other services.<\/p>\n

In the map included in the comprehensive plan, Garfield County\u2019s designated village centers are marked with asterisks.<\/p>\n

McConaughy said that the asterisk marking the Catherine Store location is clearly on the south side of Highway 82, and should not cover the north side where the proposed storage facility would sit.<\/p>\n

Blue Mountain countered that the asterisk covers the whole intersection at Highway 82 and County Road 100.<\/p>\n

John Martin, chair of the board of commissioners, noted at another part of the meeting that the comprehensive plan is a suggested vision for the county, and non-binding.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former Planted Earth nursery site is now proposed for a three-story, 99,000 square-foot self-storage operation that is pending before the Garfield County commissioners.John Stroud\/Glenwood Springs Post Independent Garfield County commissioners postponed decisions on two controversial self-storage facilities proposed near Carbondale after public hearings Monday, until they can conduct site visits. More than 50 people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 14:00:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}