Strongsville, Ohio, Bans Self-Storage From Industrial Districts

The Strongsville, Ohio, City Council last month officially banned new self-storage facilities from being built in its industrial districts. The move is intended to preserve the remaining industrial-zoned land for uses that produce more tax income for the municipality, according to the source. Storage facilities currently operating in industrial districts will be allowed to stay.

"Self-storage doesn't provide a lot of income taxes to the city," Brent Painter, the city’s economic development director, told the source. "And with such a low vacancy rate in industrial districts—we're at 98 percent full—and not much empty land left for development, we want to make sure we maximize the use of industrial land."

City officials have been tightening the business uses allowed in its industrial districts since February 2014 when the council banned fitness clubs and recreation centers from industrial zones. The city wants to preserve land for laboratories, manufacturing plants and offices that employ “relatively high-paid workers,” the source reported.

Strongsville will continue to allow self-storage to be developed in commercial-services zones. Other uses in such districts include cleaning businesses, commercial greenhouses, food preparation, hospitals, offices, repair shops, research labs, veterinary clinics and warehouses, according to the source.

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