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Sandy Spring residents hoping to block a self-storage facility from moving into the heart of town might have lost one battle at the Planning Board, but they believe they will win the war.

The preliminary plan for an ezStorage facility on Olney-Sandy Spring Road (Route 108) between Sandy Spring and Ashton narrowly passed the Planning Board Thursday with a vote of 3-2, despite testimony from 19 community members who strongly oppose the plan.

Planning Commissioners Amy Presley and Jean Cryor cast the dissenting votes. The three commissioners who voted in favor of the plan said they did so reluctantly, citing the proposed use is allowed on the site.

But they all expressed doubt about the wisdom of the project as a whole, questioning its chances of winning approval at the next step in the planning process, Site Plan review.

"I think this is just an awful proposal," Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson said at the hearing. "Are you sure you want to proceed with this?"

Hanson was addressing Robert Dalrymple, the attorney representing the developer, and Craig B. Pittinger, vice president of Siena Corporation, the Columbia, Md.-based development company.

"Yes we are," Dalrymple said.

Pittinger left the hearing without commenting and did not return phone calls requesting comment on the board's decision.

Dalrymple also did not return calls requesting comment by press time Tuesday.

Hanson, along with Commissioners John M. Robinson and Joseph Alfandre, voted in favor of the preliminary plan because self-storage is a permitted use on the property. But they emphasized their reluctance to vote yes.

Dalrymple insisted that the use is permissible under the zoning, and urged the commissioners to "follow the law."

The commissioners who voted no did so emphatically.

"What you need to do is look in your own hearts and not in the law book," said Cryor. "Why not turn and take a look at one another and say, ‘we should do something else?'"

She received applause from the audience after calling the plan "stupid."

Presley said the plan "doesn't make any sense at all."

Members of the Sandy Spring-Ashton Rural Preservation Consortium (SSARPC), Sandy Spring Civic Association, Auburn Home Owners Association and several independent residents testified against the plans.

Michelle Layton, co-chair of the SSARPC, testified that the plan does not adhere to portions of the 1998 Ashton/Sandy Spring Master Plan. After the board voted, she was pragmatic about its decision.

"It's not favorable, but it's understandable with the limits of zoning," she said. "However, it's very important for everyone to listen to the comments of Jean Cryor and Royce Hanson, John Robinson and Amy Presley."

Layton said that she has not met a single resident of Ashton or Sandy Spring who is in favor of, or even indifferent toward, the ezStorage plan.

"Everyone I come across has a visceral negative reaction," she said. "I don't understand why a business would come into a community where no one wants it."

Henry Lieberman, former president of the Sandy Spring Museum, said he has worked on development projects, and from the developer's perspective he doesn't understand why the project isn't abandoned.

"It's such a foolish waste of government time," he said. "Why fight the whole community?"

The storage facility would have two above-ground levels and two underground levels with a building footprint of slightly more than 29,000 square feet. Prior to appearing before the Planning Board last week, the developer drastically redesigned the front of the building to more resemble the rural village atmosphere of Sandy Spring and Ashton after community members balked at the original box-like design.