The Queen Creek Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve a request for a conditional use permit and gave site plan approval for a U-Haul Moving & Storage facility and outdoor vehicle storage at the southeast corner of Ocotillo and Crismon roads.
“This is our third project in the Queen Creek area, and this is probably our most exciting one because it is kind of centrally located which will help bookend the two properties we already have,” said Joe Krieger, district vice president for U-Haul during the planning and zoning meeting.
While there are smaller U-Haul locations in Queen Creek, called U-Haul neighborhood dealers, there are only two other large U-Haul Moving & Storage locations. They are located at 6028 W. Hunt Highway and 7125 S. Power Road.
The vote took place during the Planning and Zoning Commission’s last meeting of 2022 on Dec. 14. The project must still receive final town council approval.
The proposed project is for a three-story climate controlled self-storage facility and two single-story drive-up storage buildings with a conditional use permit for exterior vehicle storage on approximately 5.4 net acres.
According to a staff report, the three-story building is 122,340 square feet with a 22,240-square-foot footprint and a top height of 48 feet. The single-story buildings total approximately 5,000 square feet with a top height of 11 feet 4 inches.
The climate-controlled building will provide a 2,900-square-feet showroom and retail area that offers customers moving supplies, as well as allowing customers to work directly with service representatives.
“The balance of the building will provide 1,078 individual customer-secured storage lockers, a storage area for U-boxes or portable containers and a bay that provides for the installation of personal vehicle and truck hitches. A total of 33 parking spaces are provided along with two accessible spaces, meeting code requirements,” according to the staff report.
The U-Haul location will rent out vans, pickup trucks, box moving trucks ranging in size, trailers (open and closed) and vehicle dollies. There will be an equipment staging area located on the west side of the building. A block wall is provided at the west property line beginning at 6 feet in height at the north end and increasing to 8 feet in height at the start of the equipment staging area.
“The 8-foot-high wall continues to the south to meet the proposed 8-foot-high wall at the south property line. Additional walls proposed include a 3-foot-high screen wall located at the front of the property adjacent to the display stalls. A 3-foot-high tall screen wall is also proposed along the northeast frontage of the property, then turning at the east property line and extending approximately 190 feet to meet the existing 6-foot-tall fence,” the report added.
The project also will have a 40-foot-landscape buffer to provide additional screening of the loading area from Ocotillo Road. Plant materials proposed within the landscape buffer have 14 trees including Red Push Pistache and Desert Museum Palo Verde, as well as approximately 140 shrubs.
During the meeting, commission members asked how much use such storage and moving facilities get in Queen Creek.
“We opened the Power Ranch location in May of this year (2022), and it is half full and it’s the same amount of units (as the proposed facility),” Krieger said.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley @AzNewsmedia
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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