Plans for storage condos near McCall would harm the character of a designated scenic route, the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission decided Tuesday.
The commissioners voted 4-0 to not approve the design for the Alpine Storage Condos despite a previous approval by Valley County that entitles the use of the land for storage units.
“With that expansive building in that high along the road, it just doesn’t look like a scenic route,” P&Z Chairman Robert Lyons said. “That is a long ways of very tall buildings.”
The proposal, submitted by Cam Echanis of Boise, calls for 37 storage condos to be built in three buildings on a 2.8-acre site at 450 S. Samson Trail near Krahn Lane.
Meeting marathon
The P&Z reached its decision after more than two hours of deliberation and public testimony on Tuesday night.
In total, the P&Z has spent nine hours of meeting time on the application across six different meetings, including three this year, dating to July 2023.
The P&Z recommended the denial of a conditional use permit needed to operate the storage units in December 2023, but last June, Valley County Commissioners reversed that decision and sent the design plans back to the P&Z for approval.
The county has jurisdiction over the application because it is in the McCall Impact Area, which consists of county land administered under zoning laws that closely resemble those in place within city limits.
Appeal to county looms
Abbey Germaine, a Boise attorney representing Echanis, indicated during Tuesday’s hearing that the denial of the design plans will be appealed to the county once decision documents are formally adopted at the P&Z’s May 6 meeting.
“We shouldn’t have to be afraid that we’re going to be over-ruled no matter what,” P&Z Commissioner Dave Petty said of Germaine’s warning.
Scenic route compliance at issue
The P&Z’s decision to deny the application centered on Samson Trail’s designation by the city as a scenic route in 2021. Scenic routes are subject to stricter design standards “to preserve and enhance the scenic quality” of the routes.
Plans for the storage units included a 15-foot-tall building backing up to Samson Trail along much of the property’s 363 feet of road frontage.
“Landscaping can buffer it to a point, but I don’t think it can fix it,” Lyons said.
“Storage units on a scenic route is incongruent for me, period,” Petty said.
Lyons and Petty were joined by fellow P&Z commissioners Samuel Thompson and Tony Moss in voting to deny the design review and scenic route review of the plans. Commissioners Tom Mihlfeith, Dana Paugh, and Liz Rock were absent.
Previous P&Z requests
In February, the commissioners asked the development team to provide more information on groundwater levels and a septic system serving the site, as well as updated renderings to show what the landscaping around the property would look like immediately after construction.
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Last month, the P&Z again requested new renderings and suggested moving the storage buildings further away from Samson Trail, which originally would have been about 20 feet away from the buildings.
“We heard that request, and we attempted our best to move the buildings as much as we possibly could,” Germaine said. “Now there is between 35 and 37 feet from the edge of pavement.”
The community commercial zoning the property is subject to require a five-foot setback on front property lines, according to city standards.
The zoning on the parcel requires a conditional use permit to operate storage units. That permit has been approved by Valley County.
The McCall Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2018, includes a “business park concept” that takes in the property on which the condos are proposed. The property is ideal for “office, light industrial and other employment facilities,” according to the plan.
