TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Dustin Anderson, Director of Community Development
SUBJECT:
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Ordinance Approving a Special Use Permit to Allow a Self-Storage Facility, Located at 2450 W. Jefferson Street (ZBA 2026-16)
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BACKGROUND:
The petitioner and property owner, Menard, Inc., is requesting approval of a Special Use Permit to allow a Menards self-storage facility at 2450 W. Jefferson Street. The 2.8-acre property is zoned I-1 (light industrial) and is located behind the existing Menards home improvement store on Jefferson Street. The site was previously occupied by Bookie Magee’s Hideaway and OTB and has been vacant since that business relocated in 2022. The proposed storage facility would be owned and operated by Menard, Inc. and managed by the employees of the local Menards store, with support from the Menards general office in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The proposed self-storage facility would include seven new storage buildings with around 174 non-climate-controlled units total. The existing building would be remodeled to contain around 92 climate-controlled units. The facility would be entirely enclosed: storage buildings would be located around the perimeter of the site, with fencing installed between buildings and connected to the existing fence along the south. The site would be accessed by a gated entry with overhead doors, located at the northwest corner of the site (as shown on the north elevation on the attached site plan). The door would be controlled by a PIN pad so that only users with a private access code could enter the site. The storage facility would be overseen by employees of the adjacent Menards store, who would check on the site daily and be available for other issues during store hours. The storage facility would be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for renters of the units. The facility would have security cameras throughout in addition to the secure access gate. The proposal will be required to follow all Zoning Ordinance and building code requirements, including those for lighting, paving, and emergency access.
The site is part of the Menard’s / Joliet Subdivision from 2003 and is located next to the Secretary of State DMV facility on the east and a detention area on the west. A residential subdivision (Fairway Estates Condos) is located south of the site. The site does not have frontage on a public street, but is accessed by interior roads within the commercial subdivision. Menard, Inc. is the owner of the subject site as well as the DMV lot, the detention lot, and the Menards store site.
There are eight rows of parking on the subject site and four rows of parking on the DMV lot that currently serve as shared parking for both lots. The proposed storage facility will cover six of these parking rows, but the petitioner proposes to leave two rows on the east side of the subject site for continued use by users of the DMV facility. If the Special Use Permit is approved, the petitioner will be required to record an access easement over this portion of the self-storage lot to allow use by the DMV lot. Passenger vehicle parking for users of the self-storage facility would be located along the sides of the main building on the interior of the facility.
The proposed facility would have perimeter landscaping on all sides. The existing 15-foot landscape area and 6-foot fence along the south property line, adjacent to the residential subdivision, will remain. The existing landscape area along the west, next to the detention area, would also remain. Additional perimeter landscaping would be installed along the north and east sides of the facility.
The proposed storage buildings would be constructed with gray engineered wood siding and red steel roof panels. At their meeting on April 16, 2026, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a Variation from the Zoning Ordinance’s Non-Residential Design Standards to allow engineered wood siding instead of masonry material in the I-1 (light industrial) district. The proposed storage buildings would be 11 or 12 feet tall. The exterior of the existing building would not be significantly modified.
The special use request meets the attached criteria for special uses. The site was constructed as a commercial property within a commercial subdivision, and the proposed use is in character with the existing uses in the subdivision. The storage facility will be fully enclosed and only accessible by a secure gate. The site contains a 15-foot landscape buffer and solid 6-foot fence along the south side, which is the Zoning Ordinance requirement for commercial uses adjacent to residential properties. The subject site is in a low-profile location that may not be attractive to other commercial uses that require street frontage for visibility.
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING:
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on this matter on April 16, 2026. Josh Melder, petitioner with Menard, Inc., represented the petition. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the petition. Meeting minutes are attached.
RECOMMENDATION OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS:
Bob Nachtrieb moved that the Zoning Board of Appeals recommend approval of the Special Use Permit to allow a self-storage facility, located at 2450 W. Jefferson Street, subject to the following conditions:
1. That the Special Use granted shall herein terminate and lapse unless a building permit or certificate of occupancy is obtained not later than 180 days of the effective date of this ordinance and the erection or alteration of a building is started or the use is commenced within such period. The Board may grant an extension of this period, valid for no more than one hundred and eighty (180) additional days, upon written application and good cause shown without notice or hearing. Whether or not there is an intention to abandon the Special Use, if any special use is discontinued for a continuous period of one year, or if an intent to abandon the Special Use is evident in a shorter period of time, the Special Use for such use shall become void, and such use shall not thereafter be reestablished unless a new Special Use Permit is obtained; and
2. Should the property be declared a public nuisance, it may be subject to a rehearing and a possible revocation of the Special Use Permit.
Jesse Stiff seconded the motion, which passed with four (4) aye votes and one (1) nay votes. Voting aye were: Bias, Hennessy, Nachtrieb, and Stiff. Voting nay were: Radakovich. Absent were: McGrath Schmig.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff concurs with the recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals and recommends that the Mayor and City Council adopt the following, subject to the same conditions approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals above:
1. Ordinance Approving a Special Use Permit to Allow a Self-Storage Facility, Located at 2450 W. Jefferson Street
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