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HARTFORD — Officials of U-Haul
Moving and Storage Company left Monday night’s Plan Commission
meeting disappointed and refused to comment after the Commission
voted against approving the company’s plan to redevelop the Hartford
Plaza into large U-Haul Neighborhood Store. But the plan also
included construction of some controversial storage buildings on a
part of the property fronting Highway 60.
A motion which was approved by the Commission after being proposed
by Commission Chairman and Mayor Tim Michalak which stated the
Commission would only approve the concept plan proposed by the
company if they built the 7,800 square-feet of storage buildings on
the east and northeast corner of the property adjacent to Novak
Street — not along the highway. The only member of the Commission to
vote against the mayor’s motion was Scott Henke. City staff members
had also recommended the plan be rejected unless the placement of
the new storage buildings be changed.
Three representatives of U-Haul attended the Commission meeting, did
not comment during the meeting and refused to comment as they were
leaving afterward. The company proposed building the 3,000
square-foot storage building 60 feet from Highway 60 — something
city officials and staff would not agree to.
“There are only three large commercial areas in the city (Hartford
Plaza, Walmart site and Piggly Wiggly) and given the existing
pattern of development in the city as well as the presence of
wetlands and other environmental concerns its difficult to create
more. I doubt anymore can be created,” said City Planner Justin
Drew.
Alderman Barry Wintringer, who also serves on the Plan Commission
said he believed their is an overwhelming consensus that the council
would reject the proposal as well.
“The (storage) units’ garage doors would face the street, be painted
bright orange and would be quite visible from Highway 60,” Drew
said. “The presence of these structures would detract from the
area’s commercial nature and surrounding businesses and change the
nature of the one of the city’s most important business corridors.”
Drew and Michalak said U-Haul has refused to remove the mini-storage
warehouse structures from the plan. U-Haul insists that since
Hartford Plaza is on a frontage road rather than directly on Highway
60, the location of the mini-storage units is necessary “in order
for the public to understand they offer storage services.”
“Staff disagrees and believes a sign or signs can deal with that,”
Michalak said. “We said take those same storage units and push them
right up against the building — we’ll give them that. If they do
they will be welcome into the community. We just need a little help
from them.”
Drew said if no new agreement is made with the company and the
Commission still recommends the plan be rejected, the only way the
company could obtain a zoning change for the plan from the Common
Council is if a two-thirds majority of the council votes for the
change.
The conceptual pal submitted by u-Haul conceptual included details
how to redevelop the former Kmart location in the Plaza as a U-Haul
Neighborhood Store. The store would have a retail showroom of about
4,000 square-feet for moving and packing supply sales and rentals,
66,000 square-feet of warehousing and truck and trailer rental which
would be placed in the parking lot in front of the former Kmart
building. The two mini-storage buildings that were to front on Bell
Avenue (a frontage-type road between the property and Highway 60)
and Novak Street were the parts of the plan city officials would not
agree to permitting.
Michalak said he had asked earlier for the phone number and or email
address of the U-Haul CEO so he could talk to him about the
proposal, but no one from the company would provide him with that
information.
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