The Hermiston, Ore., City Council unanimously approved a neighborhood commercial-overlay zone last week that adds self-storage and multi-family housing as conditional uses on an 8-acre area along Highland Avenue west of S.W. 11th St. The vote occurred in part due to a request by self-storage developer Steve Richards, owner of Eastern Oregon Development LLC, who wants to build a storage facility with up to 370 units on a parcel near the Gotta Stop Mini Mart, according to the source.

Multi-family housing was added as an allowable use on the property as part of a city directive to pursue more residential development, the source reported. No multi-family developments have been proposed at the 8-acre site.

Richards told the council a feasibility study showed current self-storage facilities are at about 95 percent occupancy. He also submitted a petition with 100 signatures from residents who support a storage facility at the location. “Of all of them I approached, two of them declined to sign the petition,” Richards said during the meeting.

City planner Clint Spencer told the council some residents had expressed concern about increased traffic and loitering during a recent planning-commission hearing, but others indicated they were in favor of any development that would reduce dust and weeds, according to the source.

Richards owns self-storage facilities in Pendleton and Stanfield, Ore., the source reported. Approximately 20 tenants who live in Hermiston rent from his Stanfield facility because they can’t find available units locally, he told the council.

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