Todd Ewers, owner of Busy Properties LLC, is seeking zoning approval to expand his self-storage facility in Sterling, Ill. The request for Emerson Mini Storage was referred to the city’s plan commission, which will hear the matter at its Feb. 16 meeting. However, the petition will also need to be considered by the county because the plot is just outside the city limits, according to the source.

Ewers is looking to purchase the 3.5-acre site adjacent to his property at 3705 Emerson Road and build 50 storage units. The land is owned by Peter Harkness, the second petitioner in the request. It’s currently zoned agriculture and residential, which doesn’t allow for self-storage.

Ewers has expanded Emerson Mini Storage twice since purchasing it in 2005. “We’re looking at another expansion at our Emerson facility. But after our expansions in 2006 and 2008, we’re landlocked; so it all hinges on whether the land I want to buy from Pete can be rezoned,” he told the city council.

County officials said the change is possible, but the county’s comprehensive plan would also need to be revised. “The land the business is on was changed to special use when he bought it, but it would make sense now to just change the whole thing to business,” said Stuart Richter, an administrator with Whiteside County Planning and Zoning (WCPZ). “It complicates our comprehensive plan a bit; and we’d have to change that, too, because that land is supposed to remain [agriculture] under the proposal.”

The county aims to keep good soil in production, if possible, Richer said. However, the 2014 plan does allow for rural transition to other uses.

The city became involved in the request because the site is within 1.5 miles of its limits. “We have the right to respond because of the likelihood of that land being annexed into the city within the next 50 years,” said Amanda Schmidt, the city’s building and zoning administrator.

If the city approves the zoning request, a letter will be forwarded to WCPZ. If it objects to the petition, the Whiteside County Board can approve it with a three-fourths majority vote, the source reported.

Ewers also owns Lanark Mini Storage in Lanark, Ill., and Sterling Mini Storage in Sterling, Ill.

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