Neighbors balk at annexation, rezoning request for new U-Haul facility on Douglas Road

MISHAWAKA — Plans for a new U-Haul self-storage facility at 16963 Douglas Road are being questioned by nearby neighbors who do not want to see the project close to their nearby neighborhood.

Last week, owners of property asked the Common Council at a public hearing to annex a 1½-acre parcel to add to a more than 10-acre tract for a two-building U-Haul facility that will offer indoor climate-controlled storage, truck and trailer rentals, and related retail services.

Ray Powell, representing U-Haul, said the two buildings — 31,588 and 16,800 square feet — would be on the land closest to Douglas Road and would have a price tag of more than $17 million. The land to the north that currently is a wooded area would remain untouched under the current plans.

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Those woods, however, have garnered the attention of homeowners who live on Cherokee Drive, a small street and cul-de-sac northwest of the land north of where the U-Haul buildings would be built.

A petition signed by Cherokee Drive residents is asking the city to deny the annexation and rezoning. Residents at last week's meeting opposed the annexation and the preliminary plans on the basis that the wooded areas may be removed in future phases of the U-Haul presence there.

Powell said the architectural style of the buildings will be reflective of nearby styles. The decision to build and open a corporate-owned facility on Douglas Road, he said, reflected the area's need for the indoor storage as well as a need to assist local franchisees that he said were being "overwhelmed" by the need for the services U-Haul can provide.

But neighbors, such as Elizabeth Roycroft, said that although current plans do not call for removal of the wooded areas that abut her home's property, she feared that any new development of the land could reduce her property value.

Also, Kurt Urbanski, treasurer of the North Douglas Condominium Association northeast of the proposed U-Haul site, said the new development could hamper any future plans for any possible new development of condo buildings to the northeast of the U-Haul proposal.

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Urbanski said there currently are 32 units in the association, largely because the developer went out of business and did not complete the 216 units that were supposed to be constructed.

If North Douglas should ever be expanded, Urbanski said, the storage facility could dissuade potential developers or owners from the area.

The Council is expected to vote on the Douglas Road annexation and rezoning request at its April 22 council meeting.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: U-Haul proposal to annex land for Douglas Road business in council's hands