County commissioners approved a mixed-use plan for the Kenton Road corridor, clearing the way for a self-storage facility, hotel and restaurant-focused retail complex at the southern edge of the Connected City community hub.
The board’s approval of the Kenton Road Commercial MPUD comes less than a month after the Planning Commission approved the project – 110,000 square feet of non-residential entitlements (90,000 square feet of storage, 20,000 for commercial/retail) and 120 hotel rooms – after a long debate and some conditions.
Objections were raised again by residents claiming a storage facility and hotel do not meet the criteria for a “community hub” set forth by the Connected City Master Plan, but commissioners, after getting some concessions from developers, didn’t agree.
The project, at the northwest corner of Elam Road and Kenton, is a “natural commercial location” according to Barbara Wilhite, who represented the developers.
She outlined a development concept divided into three areas: one for storage and retail, one for retail, office or hotel, and another for retail only with a list of prohibited uses, such as drive-thrus, convenience store gas stations, car washes or auto garages.
The project also includes the construction of a “missing segment” of Kenton Road from Elam Road south to Overpass Road, and a new traffic signal at Elam.
Originally, the plan called for a two-year limitation in the retail-only segment on anything but restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, bars and entertainment venues, in an effort to “charge” the area as a social gathering space.
But commissioner Kathryn Starkey raised concerns that the two-year limitation could be over before Kenton Road is even designed, permitted and constructed.
Wilhite conferred with developers and offered a concession: extending the ban to three years.
The sharpest opposition, however, has been centered on the vertically integrated self-storage building, with 5,000 square feet of first-floor retail, and the hotel.
Michael Pultorak, a longtime proponent for the county to follow the Connected City Master Plan and deliver the amenities promised, said the project was unacceptable in the middle of a residential community hub.
He said the community hub zone is supposed to be home to a mix of recreational, cultural and social uses, and storage facilities and high-rise hotels belonged in the north and south innovation zones.
“Do you want this in your neighborhood?” he asked commissioners, showing an AI-generated rendering of a hotel and storage facility towering over a neighborhood to make his point.
“We’re talking about a five-story hotel and a three-story storage unit in the middle of our residential community hub,” he added. “This is unacceptable. I am not opposed to growth. I’m not opposed to things being built. This is silliness.”
Starkey pressed for stronger standards on the storage unit’s aesthetics, presenting examples of other visually pleasing storage units that had first-floor retail and well-designed facades.
Wilhite suggested the board add conditions requiring “a common color palette. We can add some architectural standards to make sure that we’re consistent amongst all of our buildings.”
Commissioner Jack Mariano praised the project, saying the Kenton Road extension and signalized intersections at Elam Road and Overpass Road were “a very important missing piece” for the area’s transportation needs.
The board voted unanimously to approve the project.
