Working with Neighborhoods to get Self-Storage Approved Part 1

Trying to get the neighbors on your side is one of the trickiest aspects of building or converting a self-storage facility. When you are working with planning and zoning, you will need to go before the commission to get final approval of your plans before you can build. Sometimes, you will have people who come to the meeting who are opposed to your project. There are many reasons for this.

Self-storage facilities have a stigma. Everyone has a rock band that practices in a self-storage facility, right? There are people in and out of our facilities making noise around the clock, right? There are people unloading trailers at midnight, right? Of course not, but they don’t know that until you tell them that you have set hours. They don’t know that you have rules that prevent garage bands from becoming self-storage bands. All they know is that they are afraid of the noise you might bring to their area, and they want to prevent it.

Once they understand that you are actually not going to be very noisy or have a lot of light noise or traffic noise or any other number of things other businesses that could go into that area might, they will start changing their thinking. However, you may have to help them understand who else might be coming if it isn’t going to be you.

The best way to manage the neighbors is to educate them. There are a few ways that you can do this. You can send out postcards inviting them to a webinar to ask questions. You should also have a live meeting for those who are not technologically advanced. You can pass out fliers on their doors, inviting them to both meetings. You can door knock inviting them to both meetings. Let them know what your agenda will cover. Let them know that there is a Q&A period where they can ask questions and voice concerns. This way you can get ahead of any problems that they may have prior to the city council meeting.

The biggest goal is to get as many of the neighbors at this meeting as possible. The second goal is to get the contact information for as many of these neighbors as possible. If you are building next to an HOA, then it is easier to reach people, but if you are building in an established neighborhood, it may not be as easy to get everyone’s e-mail addresses. The goal is to start controlling the information that they are receiving so that they aren’t just hearing bad things about self-storage facilities.

You can usually get your facility approved; you just need to make sure that you know the objections that you are going to face so that you can reassure your neighbors that they won’t actually be a problem. As always, happy investing.