Shelley residents angry about proposed storage units in neighborhood
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SHELLEY — Joe and Shannon Peron have loved the view from their neighborhood of seven years. That’s one of the reasons they felt like they needed to get their voices heard when they saw the area right outside their backyard is up for re-zoning.
On July 1, the city of Shelly sent out notice of a public hearing where officials would discuss the rezoning of land owned by Shane Wootan, who is also the chairperson of the planning and zoning committee. The land is zoned for residential use but Wootan tried to rezone it to manufacturing in order to place storage facilities.
By law, the city had to send out the notice to anyone living within 300 feet of the land in question. The Perons weren’t happy with the plan.
“If he wants to do business, … buy land out where it’s already at or where it’s not encroaching on other neighbors,” Joe told EastIdahoNews.com.
“I’m going to walk outside, and it’s just going to be a tin wall,” Shannon added.
According to Joe, the majority of the neighbors around the property were against the rezoning plan. Peron decided to write a petition stating a formal request that the motion be denied. The petition states it would cause “a reduction of the property values of the private residents due to the probability and likelihood of increased traffic and noise levels in and around this location.”
The petition had 36 signatures from adults in the area.
Joe and Shannon brought the petition to the planning and zoning meeting on July 21. Wootan recused himself from the committee to avoid a conflict of interest. The Perons don’t believe that was enough.
“My thought was when Shane Wootan recused himself, the rest of them should too,” Shannon explained. “Shelley is a small community. They all know each other.”
Because of the response from the public, the committee tabled the discussion for a second meeting. Wootan submitted a letter to the committee suggesting that instead of manufacturing, the land be re-zoned to central business with a special use permit, which would still allow him to place storage units.
“My intention is to put storage units on this property and not a manufacturing facility which, through discussion thus far, some of these property owners are not opposed to,” Wootan’s letter stated. “It is not my intention to have their property values go down nor to have a manufacturing facility in their neighborhood.”
Peron again went and asked his neighbors if they approved this plan, and received over 30 votes against it, one neighbor for it and a few not wanting to share their thoughts.
“We don’t want that either,” Joe said. “We don’t want that stuff in the middle of our neighborhood.”
On August 18, the motion to re-zone passed in a 3 to 1 vote. The plan now will go to the Shelley City Council meeting on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
“They claim that they are about the people, but there is no proof (of that) there,” Joe stated.