The Duluth City, Georgia, City Council recently voted to amend the city’s Unified Development Code to allow self-storage development within its “highway commercial-retail” zoning district. Projects must maintain a 150-foot buffer between storage buildings and residential properties, and loading bays are prohibited from facing the street, according to the source.

Self-storage was already allowed, with restrictions, within the municipality’s manufacturing-zoning districts and via special-use permit in its general-business district.

The change comes at a time when many other cities are opting to restrict self-storage development. In April, Worcester, Massachusetts, put self-storage in its own use category and prohibited it from manufacturing zones, among other restrictions. Earlier this year, officials in Parma, Ohio, placed a one-mile buffer around existing self-storage facilities and stipulated that the design of new projects must meet specific architectural requirements. In December, Birmingham, Alabama, passed new restrictions that’ll make it more difficult for developers who seek to build in the city center and other central commercial districts.

Source:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Duluth Updates Code to Allow Mini-Warehouses, Self-Storage Units