The design of a storage unit complex on South Samson Trail finally received approval from the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission.
Last week, the P&Z voted 4-2 to approve plans for a 34-unit storage complex at 450 S. Samson Trail that has been redesigned several times over the last two years.
The redesigns, completed through the course of eight P&Z reviews totaling 12 hours of meeting time, make the Alpine Storage Condos comply with scenic route standards in place along South Samson Trail, according to the majority P&Z.
Jeff Hatch, an architect representing developer Cam Echanis of Boise, presented several options at last week’s meeting for fencing around the 2.8-acre property and the colors of the storage buildings. Ultimately, the P&Z favored a gray-brown color scheme for the buildings and meshed fencing that would help retain views through the property.
“They’ve done the best they can,” P&Z commissioner Samuel Thompson said.
Thompson joined P&Z Chairman Rob Lyons and commissioners Liz Rock and Tony Moss in voting to approve the design, while commissioners Dave Petty and Tom Mihlfeith dissented.
“They’ve done the best they can, but I still don’t think it fits my definition of what a scenic route is,” Petty said.
Mihlfeith warned that approving the storage complex along the scenic route opens the door to commercial sprawl similar to development along Idaho 55 in Lake Fork in recent years.
“This is one of our last opportunities to have a residential, pedestrian corridor into town,” said Mihlfeith, who represents the McCall Impact Area on the P&Z. “All of our roads into town from the south will be metal buildings.”
The parcel on which the storage condos are proposed is zoned for commercial use. The zoning predates the designation of South Samson Trail as a scenic route in 2021.
How has the project changed?
Compared to earlier proposals, the final design has three fewer storage units and two fewer storage buildings. The site has also been redesigned multiple times to improve views from Samson Trail, including by flipping the orientation of the storage buildings and moving them about 15 feet further away from the roadway.
City Attorney Bill Punkoney noted the project is now different than what Valley County approved a year ago, but said he did not know what that means procedurally.
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Abbey Germaine, a Boise attorney representing Echanis, told Punkoney and the P&Z that she confirmed with the Valley County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office that the new plan could be approved administratively by the county—and not in a public meeting—because it would be a “reduction of use” compared to what the county commissioners approved.
“If (deputy prosecutor) Brian Oakey is pre-judging these applications, that’s on him,” Punkoney said. “That’s not how we do things.”
McCall Impact Area battleground
The P&Z’s review of the proposal has been complicated by the fact that a conditional use permit needed to build the storage condos was already approved by Valley County despite a recommendation for denial by the P&Z. The design of the buildings is now the only aspect of the project at the P&Z’s discretion.
A previous design was denied by the P&Z in April, after which a new design was submitted in May. A vote to deny the application could be appealed to the county, a reality directly acknowledged by commissioners in expressing reluctance to reject the project outright.
Petty, a vocal opponent of the project throughout its eight P&Z appearances, acknowledged the commission’s awkward position in a terse exchange with Echanis, the developer.
“It’s very obvious that nobody here likes this project, but you have been very stubborn,” he said. “Is there any reason that you couldn’t find something else to do with this property?”
Lyons quickly interrupted Petty.
“We can’t ask those kinds of questions,” he said. “We’ve got to address the application as it is.”
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.
The county, spurred by a new state law, is currently mulling a proposal to reduce the size of the impact area by 97% and take over administration of impact area land use applications, as Valley Lookout reported.
“In six months, probably, we won’t be having these conversations anymore, but we are today,” Petty said.
