Krahn Lane Storage recommended for approval by McCall Planning & Zoning

Jun 09, 2023

More storage space could be coming to McCall.

Tuesday evening, the McCall Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the Krahn Lane Storage project. The project started as three buildings with 190 storage units at 400 Krahn Lane but has now shrunk to 139 units.

“Our hope for this project is it ends up being a place where people can put their boat for the winter, put their patio furniture, put their bicycles, put their motorcycles,” project applicant Vince Beer said. “And for six or seven months of the year – nobody hardly goes in there at all.”

There are a handful of homes near where the project is proposed. The site was once occupied by a construction company and Commissioner Chair Robert Lyons says a storage unit would likely be viewed as an upgrade to the neighbors.

“There are three or four (houses) there but it is zoned commercial for those houses,” Lyons said. “So I think they kind of understand. And knowing what was there before, it’d be 1,000 times quieter, because the construction company there before had a lot of massive heavy-duty equipment and banging, clanging. It’s been several years, but this one is much more limited – than I’m sure what they had experienced in the past.”

An old mobile home that was converted into workforce housing currently sits on the project site and will remain there. Beer believes this will help deter people from breaking in, along with motion-activated lights, as the storage unit won’t be gated.

“Having somebody living there will deter,” he said. “…When somebody goes down the aisle, it’ll have motion lights to turn on and security cameras. Should be pretty safe.”

Krahn Lane is in the Planned Walkway Network within the McCall Area Transportation Master Plan, listed as a place for a desired pathway. The applicant will work with the county and city on how to best include a 10-foot pathway in front of the storage unit.

“We have a pathway that’s expected to be constructed with new development,” McCall Public Works Director Nathan Stewart said. “There’s some discussion on whether they want to just build it today or maybe an escrow agreement that gets put in place and it gets held for a certain period of time so that the county could come in and build that pathway in the future.”

No residents showed up to testify at the meeting about the project. Krahn Lane Storage will need to be reviewed and approved by the Valley County Board of Commissioners.

“The bottom line is I feel like we’re in a great position to comply with whatever needs to be done to make this work,” Beer said. “And I think it’s a good project.”

Thanks for reading! Our stories are made possible because readers like you provide support. It allows us to keep from running intrusive ads or having a paywall. Plus, members get great benefits. Your membership makes our journalism possible. Join here!