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After more than a year of battling county officials, a storage company that bought property near the intersection of routes 29 and 198 in Burtonsville will be allowed to move forward with construction despite unclear zoning regulations on the area, county officials decided last Thursday.

Differing interpretations of the Fairland Master Plan made it unclear how the land ezStorage has already purchased was meant to be used. The facility would be located on an industrial overlay zone, where a single piece of land has conflicting zoning restrictions. Representatives for ezStorage said they were first told they could use any of the zoning uses their site falls on but were later told they could only use the site for its most restricted zoning uses.

"The way it's in there, no question about it, it's fuzzy," said Greg Russ, zoning coordinator with Park and Planning at a Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee meeting Oct. 8.

When ezStorage bought the land three years ago, it was told it would be allowed to build a storage facility on the site, company officials said. When they proceeded with filing preliminary plans, however, county officials decided the storage facility did not fit with the community's master plan. The small number of jobs created by the facility was one reason officials thought ezStorage should not be allowed to build, officials said.

The circuit court overturned the rejection of the preliminary plan, saying the planning board's decision was "arbitrary and capricious," according to Craig Pittinger, vice president of parent company Siena Corp. Questions about how the site fits into the master plan remain, however.

The zoning distinction between two plots of land on the same overlay zone, which would allow one plot owner to build a storage facility but preclude a nearby land owner from doing the same, is unreasonable, committee officials said.

"There's a level of absurdity over that distinction," he said. There would be no difference in job creation, aesthetics or contribution to the community, he added.

In June, Councilwoman Nancy Navarro proposed Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 09-05 to restrict allowed zoning uses in the overlay zone. If passed as it was originally worded, ZTA 09-05 would prevent ezStorage officials from building on the land they already own and that they say they have been told they could use to build a facility. County officials have said the amendment was not created to specifically block ezStorage, although it would have that effect.

The council committee voted to add in a grandfather clause that would allow ezStorage to move forward with plans but restrict similar zoning conflicts in the future. Committee members also acknowledged the need to revisit the Fairland Master Plan and clear up ambiguous language.

"The vision of this area was a little more complex than a bunch of boxes," committee member Marc Elrich said, noting the opinion of many Burtonsville residents.

The committee made the decision to add the grandfather clause after an East County Citizens Advisory Board meeting the night before resulted in a change of heart among board members.

The board, which had previously sent a letter to the council in support of the zoning amendment, listened to a presentation from ezStorage representatives and decided they thought the company would make good neighbors in Burtonsville. A new letter—one similar to the opinion of County Executive Isiah Leggett—was sent immediately to the council to support a grandfather clause.

"I think the ECCAB people got this right," Elrich said after the committee looked at a map of the area and heard from ezStorage's attorney.

The board spent several hours debating and hearing from ezStorage representatives, who said they were only doing what they were told was allowed and were trying to be good neighbors to the Burtonsville community.

Pittinger said the building wouldn't be visible from many directions, would have minimal traffic and would provide a vital service to local residents during times of life transitions. The $10 million facility was proposed after market analysis suggested there was a need for climate-controlled, single-building storage facilities in the immediate area, Pittinger said.

Not all board members were convinced. Parliamentarian Eric Luedtke said he thought allowing ezStorage to build would mean the community was settling. His main concern was that the site only created four jobs, a stark contrast to the 60,000 jobs created by nearby proposed bioscience community Science City, he said.

"A couple people have told me, ‘Burtonsville should take what it can get,'" he said. "No. No. We deserve better. ... We should be getting the [Interstate] 95 attention."

Tom Aylward, the board member who proposed the new letter in support of ezStorage, said he thought Leudtke was being unreasonable. Aylward said he was absent from the July meeting where the board decided to support the zoning amendment but would have spoken out against it had he been there.

"I thought that was a low blow," he said. "I've lived in Burtonsville for 17 years. Burtonsville has had a chance to get some really nice stuff, but it's been killed by the master plan and the ardent supporters of the master plan. ...It is a fact in our lives that we have stuff. So I disagree that we're settling. I think we're getting a premiere operation of that business type."