The area at the end of East Fourth Street in Ripon has long been a vacant dirt lot.
But not for too long.
The Ripon Planning Commission recently approved Liberty Self Storage’s major site plan permit to construct a 170,300 square foot self-storage facility on 7.82 acres bounded by Union Pacific Railroad to just northeast of Highway 9 in an area zoned for heavy industrial.
“Mini-storages are an allowed use in this district,” said Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart in his staff report.
Plans call for multiple sized units along with a small 1,000-square-foot office space and associated parking for unit rentals and site supervision. Security cameras and heavy landscaping to serve as a buffer to the facility from the public streets as well as deter nuisance-type crimes (graffiti) are also part of the project.
Gus Schultz of SS Developments in Gilbert, AZ is building the Liberty Self Storage in Ripon. He was also involved in the construction of similar facilities in Turlock and Lodi.
Once Liberty Self Storage is completed and open for business, Schultz anticipates – using industry standards – roughly three years for all units to fill. “However, in Turlock, they were at capacity in four months,” he said.
Zuidervaart pointed out that the buildings in this project will be about 26 feet in height for some units – that height complies with the Ripon Municipal Code for the maximum allowed (35 feet) in the Heavy Industrial district.
Access to the mini-storage facility would be a single commercial driveway approach off East Fourth Street coupled with a gated access point between the parking area at the office space and the self-storage units.
Off-street parking calls for a total of four spaces, consisting of three standard and one handicap space.
As for the exterior, the storage buildings would be that of metal sidings.
Additional site improvements include the installation of curb, gutter and sidewalk across the entire project frontage on East Fourth Street along with putting in two city street lights and underground utilities.
