The moratorium on storage facilities in Ridgeland is still under effect until May 1.
However, officials recently looked at maps of current and possible future locations of storage facilities throughout the city.
A public hearing will be held on April 3 to determine whether the city zoning ordinance should be altered: “Delete Section 430.03.B. – removes “Climate Controlled Storage Facilities” from Conditional Uses as listed in C-3. Add Section 440.03.J. Climate Controlled Storage Facilities – Adds the use as a Conditional Use in C-4,” the notice states.
“I put together a set of drawings that showed how many units we currently have, how much zoning we have for future facilities, and the board directed me to create a notice to send to newspapers to advertise (the public hearing),” Community Development Director Alan Hart said.
The city originally introduced the moratorium on February 6 for 90 days.
The issue arose from a proposed StorageMax near Highland Colony. Initially, the proposal was denied by the city’s planning and zoning board.
Buster Bailey of H.C. Bailey Companies presented the plans in September during a regular p-and-z meeting.
The Ridgeland planning and zoning board voted against the rezoning of the site from C-2 to C-3 for a storage unit with a conditional use.
A conditional use allows the city to consider uses that may be essential or desirable but are not normally allowed within a particular zoning district. A conditional use permit can provide flexibility within a zoning ordinance.
The planning and zoning board’s vote is not final and is viewed simply as a recommendation to the board of aldermen.
Bailey brought an appeal before the Ridgeland board of aldermen for reconsideration and approval during the January 16 meeting.
The item was tabled until the February 6 meeting, when city officials approved the moratorium.
“The StorageMax cannot be approved until the 90 days is up,” Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee said. “It’s a possibility that the ordinance could be changed to not allow storage facilities in that area.”
McGee said the city is trying to ensure that not too many storage facilities are built within the main areas of the city.
“We want it looked at, so we asked the community development department to show where they can be built without requiring a conditional use. We’re getting a handle on it to make sure we don’t have them everywhere, especially where people would have first impressions of the city. We don’t want that to be storage facilities.”
A zonal map marking where storage facilities can go already exists for the city, but McGee said officials are going to review the map to possibly update it along with the municipal zoning ordinance.
“We don’t want a conditional use every time we turn around.”
