The city of Santa Clarita’s Planning Commission is set to take a second look at an application for a self-storage facility, one of several that have been proposed in the city over the past few years.
The latest project, named the Lyons Center Self-Storage Facility Project while under review, is being proposed for 24860 Orchard Village Road.
It’s on the agenda for Tuesday’s commission meeting because the initial application was rejected by Jason Crawford, the city’s director of community development.
The reason given for the initial rejection, according to a letter shared by city planners, was that the plans would require a “text amendment” to a specific city plan for the area’s specific plan.
The city’s code does not allow this, according to a rejection letter sent Sept. 11.
The owner of the property is trying to revitalize a center near Lyons Avenue that’s been struggling to fill the void created since Ralphs left more than a decade ago, according to the original application filed in March.
“The justification for this zone change and conditional use permit is that this portion of the former Ralphs Market has been vacant for 11 years and despite the concerted and best efforts of the applicant it has not been able to be leased for any retail use,” according to the applicant, Phillip Lee. “The continued vacancy of this large portion of this existing center without any economic benefit has, and will continue to, put pressure on the financial viability of the entire center. Exterior enhancements are planned to the vacant property, which shares a façade with the adjacent Aldi Supermarket.”
The applicant paid a $4,369 appeal fee to contest the decision to the Planning Commission.
Reports indicate that the region has a dearth of supply in terms of storage, which has been an active market.
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. in joint venture with LaTerra Development, has acquired EZ Access Self-Storage, a 784-unit self-storage facility in Santa Clarita, in an off-market transaction for $27 million, which was reported in September. That facility on Carl Court is reported as closed at the moment, but reports indicate it’s being reopened by Public Storage.
In 2020, Santa Clarita approved a three-story 156,000-square-foot self-storage facility at Golden Valley Road and Valley Center Drive that recently opened as Extra Space Storage.
In August, the Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit “to allow the conversion of an existing one-story industrial building into a three-story self-storage facility and to permit its operation, all within an existing shell building located at 26477 Ruether Ave.” That project was approved to be built “within an existing industrial building.”
