Hazardous Waste Site Transformed Into Self-Storage?

At a time when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency carries the mantra "reduce, reuse and recycle" for all municipal solid waste, it was encouraging to see that the Corona (Calif.) City Council recently gave a nod of approval for a hazardous-waste site to receive a complete makeover–becoming condos, industrial facilities, retail shops and, non other than, self-storage. This is the ultimate in reuse and recycle, at least from the way I see it, and I offer kudos to The Press Enterprise for picking up on the story.

In order for the project to get the go-ahead, the council had to annex the property from the county and change the land-use/zoning permitting from parks to industrial, commercial and high-density residential. The land is a 65-year-old hazardous waste site, which doesn't exactly sound like the perfect plot for a park in the first place.

On the drawing board are 108 condos, 10 two-story buildings to house offices, a commercial center and industrial site. Also included: RV and self-storage.

Seems like a nice addition to the project, considering Corona is less than 40 miles from the Pacific Ocean and who knows how many lakes and other waterways for boating and fishing. And that's not even figuring in all the incredible highways and roadways that beckon thousands of RVers up the California coast and inland to state and national park lands.

Note to self-storage owners/developers: Know of any land designated as unusable in your area? Can you think of any type of business that might be suitable for development there?

"This is a very difficult, blighted piece of property," stated Steve Nolan, a Corona City Council member who favors the project. "It takes a real vision to even come up with a use for it."

We're just glad that self-storage is a part of the deal, and hope that other developers can have a similar vision.

Need pointers for getting through all the zoning hoops? Try these articles off the Inside Self-Storage website: The Zoning Process, In the Ring With Planning and Zoning and Construction Concerns.