Already, the township has six storage facilities and 19 car washes in business. Largely automated businesses are appealing to investors — particularly small-time or first-time investors — because they do not require large utility bills or payroll. In particular, they attract first-time investors because they are relatively cheap and quick to build, according to Keiran.
In addition, self-storage facilities are “vehicle-oriented in such a way as to diminish from the character of a commercial corridor,” according to the zoning text amendment. “These uses have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and surrounding residential areas adjacent to them,” the amendment reads, “potentially downgrading property values.” tsunami car wash
Changes in the amendment include:
Limiting the number of individual storage units to 100 per site.
Limiting hours of operation to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Banning “service work, repair work, manufacturing, cultivating, processing, aquaculture or similar activity” taking place on self-storage sites.
Banning outdoor storage of materials such as RVs, boats, trailers or other vehicles.
Requiring self-storage sites to include a manager’s office.
Requiring that self-storage facilities connect to tap water, wastewater and stormwater facilities.
Other amendments are aimed at making sure facilities are safe and comply with existing rules. For instance, self-storage facilities will be required to provide at least one parking space per employee, ADA parking, and one parking space for every 20 storage units on site, according to the amendment. Storage-site layouts must provide for pedestrian mobility.
The storage unit and mini-warehouse industry grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to industry websites and media reports. While other sectors of nonresidential real estate (corporate and service-industry properties) were hurt by the pandemic economy, the storage industry actually saw significant economic gains in the past five years, according to United States Census Bureau online, and self-storage sites have proliferated.
Estimates of the number of storage sites range as high as 52,000 facilities in the United States and 1,748 units in Ohio, according to StorageCafe, an industry tracker. In fact, according to RentCafe, a website that tracks trends in rental properties, Ohio leads the Midwest in total property footage dedicated to storage space with 1.7 million-square feet in 2023 and additional spaces being built in the past year. It is estimated that a fifth of the American population rents a self-storage space, according to StorageCafe.
In part, this growth in the storage industry can be attributed to remote work, which saw a surge in business during the pandemic as workers relocated their offices to their residences. Self-storage became a popular option for storing office furniture and materials. Also, people moved back in with their parents as remote work became an appealing option as infection rates soared and colleges closed their dormitories. Despite a decline in the storage business in 2024, self-storage is still a $44.3 billion industry, according to SpareFoot Storage Beat, an industry news website, and continues to grow.
Despite the industry’s economic footprint, issues with land usage and criminal activity have prompted some communities to enact legislation restricting storage facilities.
In Providence, Rhode Island, for instance, City Council members voted to ban storage facilities because they took land that could be used for affordable housing, according to a July 2023 article in The Providence Journal. Strongsville, near Cleveland, banned self-storage in its industrial areas in order to preserve land for commercial uses and to foster income tax, which storage facilities do not generate, according to Inside Self Storage, an industry publication. These concerns are not entirely new. Challenges to self-storage go back as far as 2017 when New York City limited storage facilities on the grounds that they utilize land that could be used for manufacturing and industrial businesses, according to the CommercialSearch Newsletter, a property management publication.
Storage units limit job prospects in particular, Keiran said, because so many use remote oversight — managers who are onsite perhaps twice a week to oversee a largely automated facility. Site security also is done remotely in most instances, relying on camera and sensor equipment to do the jobs once performed by people.
“(Storage facilities) are not going to have a lot of people that they are going to have to pay,” Keiran said.
Remote security can be problematic.
“The trend (in storage facilities) is more for a ‘kiosk system’ in all remote oversight,” Keiran said. The term “kiosk system” refers to monitoring systems with an offsite operator. With these systems, there are seldom actual eyes on the facility to detect criminal activity or to make sure that materials being stored are safe and legal.
The proposed language in the amendment would require onsite management and security. It also would place a limit on the number of new storage facilities within township boundaries, Keiran said.
Existing storage units do not need to abide by the new rules, Keiran said, because the amendment was not in place when they were built. However, these are now permanent changes to the ordinance, he said, which will affect the construction of any new storage facilities.
Multiple attempts to reach local storage space executives and industry spokespeople went unanswered.
Car washes carry many of these same issues when they enter a community, plus the additional concern of noise pollution and traffic in many instances. In order to create a more exciting customer experience, a number of corporate car washes broadcast loud music from speakers, Keiran said.
While a number of car washes are located in industrial or commercial districts, some may be only a parking lot or a street away from people’s houses, Keiren said. While there are no pending complaints, the potential exists for car washes to come in conflict with their residential neighbors.
New language in zoning ordinances would generally limit the levels at which car washes can broadcast music, Keiran said. The language in the amendment is not specific to decibels but does reference any “sound, or any other audible nuisance, which creates unreasonably loud and disturbing noises of such a character, intensity, and duration so as to disturb the peace, quiet, and comfort of any reasonable person of normal sensitivity residing in the township.”
“We would hope that they would get along with their neighbors,” Keiran said.
Like the storage industry, the car wash industry has seen a surge in business, not just in America, but worldwide. In 2021, the international car wash market logged record high revenues of $29.3 billion, according to the EquityMobile blog guide to car washes. North America accounts for over half this windfall since 72 percent of American drivers regularly use professional car washing services, also according to the blog. Convenience and spending power, according to EquityMobile, are the drivers for this trend.
Representatives of ModWash — which has two individual car washes in the township equipped to broadcast music — are quick to point out that they want to be good community members and are responsive to neighborhood concerns.
“Our culture as a car wash is an easy-going, fun-loving time,” Chelsea McKee, guest advocate and retention manager for ModWash, said. “We believe the music enhances the time the customer is using the facilities.”
The purpose of the music, the slogans and artwork found at most ModWash locations is to communicate good faith to the community, McKee said.
“We want a fun-loving, good time,” she said. “People love to wash their car.”
If there is a neighborhood concern with noise, she said, community members should call the car wash and ask to speak to a manager or to contact the company online through their webpage.
She also pointed out that the company has not yet received any complaints.
“No one has brought it to our attention at this level that the music is too loud,” she said. “But we take it very seriously, and we want to be members of the community.”
Also, ModWash did turn the music down at both locations in Boardman of their own accord in response to nationwide concerns about loud music at car washes.
Other zoning amendments focus on maintaining the quality of residential neighborhoods near car washes. These include regulations that
Car washes may not be established within one half-mile of each other.
No more than one car wash may be located in any single building.
Architectural designs must be oriented so that no “open bay is facing an adjoining residential property.”
The amendment further stipulates that there shall be no more than one car wash per 10,000 township residents.
Existing car washes are exempt from amendments to township ordinances that go into effect Sept. 11.
The idea is not to do away with commercial ventures such as storage spaces and car washes, Keiran said, but to plan them in concert with other business possibilities that include multiple land uses — sites that may have storage or a car wash on the property, for instance, but also contain other business ventures such as office space, artisan studios or light industrial manufacturing. Such construction is called a “flex space,” according to Keiran.
Ideally, flex spaces would incorporate sustainability features which contribute to community environmental health–such as retention ponds and bioswales to deal with stormwater runoff– and landscaping for aesthetic purposes.This combination of uses is key to smart land usage, according to Keiran.
“If a structure would be generating employment, it would potentially be generating tax revenue and each of these units would be connected to the utilities,” he said.
The township hopes to develop more of these kinds of business spaces in the future, Keiran said.
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