A two-story, 122,000-square-foot storage facility previously granted land use approval by the Winslow Zoning Board is now scheduled to seek full major site plan approval.
Although the project is located on Cross Keys Road, the building will sit back from the roadway, positioned behind the existing Aldi and Wendy’s on an undeveloped parcel of land. The site plan includes 61,000 square feet of building footprint; with two floors, the total building area doubles to 122,000 square feet.
If approved, the new storage facility will utilize existing internal roadways within the small commercial development and will not require any new access points onto local roadways.
The project is being proposed by SAFStor, a large developer of self-storage facilities with more than 6.3 million square feet currently in construction and operation, and an annual development pipeline of approximately 1.2 million square feet. Despite the company’s size, many consumers may not recognize the name, as Safe Store does not brand facilities under its own name. Instead, the company partners with well-known storage brands such as Extra Space Storage, CubeSmart, and Life Storage.
Locally, SAFStor owns facilities in Somerdale, Washington Township, Voorhees, and likely additional nearby communities.
While this extended corner property is clearly commercial-development-driven, the zoning originally did not permit storage facilities. In October 2023, the developer appeared before the Zoning Board to request a land use variance allowing the storage facility. At that time, the request focused solely on the use variance and did not include site plan approval.
That is why the applicant will return to the Zoning Board on January 14 at 6:30 p.m., where they will present full design plans for the project, including details related to parking, landscaping, traffic circulation, and other site elements.
As part of the site plan application, several variances are being requested, including signage (which is common) and a reduction in the required number of parking spaces. This request is consistent with storage facilities, which typically generate far less customer traffic than traditional retail uses anticipated by zoning codes.
