The Boone County, Mo., Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a conditional-use permit request from real estate developer Shane Dixon of MD Storage of Columbia LLC to build a self-storage facility just north of the Columbia, Mo., city limits. The project still requires approval from the county commission but would be constructed on 1.46 acres at 1080 E. Shalimar Drive near the Shalimar Gardens subdivision, according to the source.

Some community residents spoke against the project during a public hearing on Aug. 20. Alice Weiss, who lives in the subdivision, told planners a self-storage facility placed near the primary entrance to the neighborhood would be “visually unattractive” and “unappealing,” the source reported.

Commissioner Carl Freiling supported the permit request, arguing that a less-desirable business type that matched the property’s commercial zoning designation could have bypassed permission from city planners. “A general commercial lot in that neighborhood will not go unused,” he said. “Some of the other things that could automatically go there would be a monstrous nuisance.”

The county commission will consider the permit request on Sept. 1.

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