A storage complex on Elo Road south of McCall could soon double in size under an approval issued on Monday by Valley County Commissioners.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve an application to expand the Stor-It Self Storage location at 379 Elo Rd. from about 400 units to about 900 units, or by 148,000 square feet.
The approval allows C.W. Hurless of Eagle, who owns the Stor-It, to build 11 new storage buildings on a 10-acre parcel directly east of the existing location.
“The hope is to start construction this year,” Hurless told BoiseDev. “Timing of the project depends on when we can get started. If all goes well, we would be looking at a nine to 10-month project.”
The expansion includes a satellite fire station for McCall Fire and EMS and about 2,000 feet of pedestrian and bicyclist pathway along the property’s frontage on Elo Road and South Samson Trail. Idaho 55 would also be widened to add a northbound turn lane onto Elo Road.
McCall, Valley County at odds
Monday’s approval came despite the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission recommending multiple times that application should be denied.
Final authority on the project, however, rested with the county commissioners because Stor-It is in the McCall Impact Area, which is governed by the county, but subject to rules that closely resemble city zoning laws.
A report on the project by city staff said the expansion would not meet seven of the 12 criteria for a conditional use permit, which is required to build storage units under the residential zoning on the property.
The unmet criteria include a requirement for the proposal to be harmonious with surrounding properties, as well as certainty that it will not harm property values in the neighborhood or cause damage to water quality or scenic features of the area.
The county commissioners disagreed with the report’s findings.
“I can’t see anything in the codes that would tell me to do anything different,” commissioner Neal Thompson said before voting to approve the expansion.
Despite the county’s approval, Hurless still needs approval for the design of expansion, which was previously appealed to the county after being denied by the McCall P&Z. The commissioners are expected to take up that matter at a future meeting.
Public opposition
More than 100 written public comments have been submitted in opposition to the Stor-It expansion since 2022, when the application was initially filed. Neighbors also spoke against it during several public hearing before the county commissioners, citing the incompatibility of a commercial storage business with nearby homes.
The county commissioners, however, were not swayed.
“I do have a disagreement with the community in that this is a pre-existing use in this area. There’s already a lot of commercial in the area,” commissioner Sherry Maupin said. “The compatibility issue is not a concern to me.”
Elt Hasbrouck, who chairs the board of county commissioners, noted that the existing Stor-It, which does not comply with current city codes, predates city zoning laws.
Without donors like you, this story would not exist.
Make a donation of any size here
“To me, it comes back to property rights,” Hasbrouck said. “I do feel like a person has a right, once they’ve got a business established, to be able to expand.”
Impact Area negotiation looms
Hasbrouck also reiterated that recommendations by the McCall P&Z and city staff to deny the expansion may be moot later this year amid the county’s plans to shrink the McCall Impact Area.
Last year, the Idaho Legislature updated state law governing impact areas, which county officials have warned is likely to force the designation to be removed from much of the impact area south of McCall.
“If we end up taking back the impact area, which we have to do by the end of the year, and it ends up being under county ordinances, then this would be appropriate,” he said.
Instead of traditional zoning, Valley County employs a multiple-use concept that evaluates the compatibility of development applications with surrounding properties on a case-by-case basis.
Similar comments by Hasbrouck during a Dec. 9 hearing on the Stor-It application caught the attention of McCall city officials, who sent a Dec. 20 letter requesting a meeting with the county commissioners to discuss the impact area.
“The McCall City Council is deeply concerned that these actions undermine the collaborative approach agreed upon earlier and create uncertainty for residents,” McCall Mayor Bob Giles said in the letter.
“Furthermore, the proposed changes jeopardize the area of impact’s critical role in managing growth, protecting resources, and aligning development standards,” the letter said.
‘Sound the alarm’: Neighbors form impact area coalition
Meanwhile, residents of the impact area, many of which opposed the Stor-It expansion, have formed a coalition to oppose the county’s plans to shrink the impact area. Over 40 residents had joined the group as of Tuesday.
Scott Harris of McCall, who is helping to form the coalition, framed the county’s stance on the new impact area law as an “aggressive misinterpretation” that will “throw existing residents under the bus driven by the developers.”
“The group we are coalescing, The McCall Impact Area Neighborhood Coalition, is an effort not only to address the dangers of the Stor-It project, but to sound the alarm about the intent of the county to take over the Impact Area and remove the city planning and zoning protections we all have subscribed to,” Harris told BoiseDev.
