Suburban Chicago Self-Storage Rezoning Stirs Controversy

McHenry County is butting heads with the city of Crystal Lake over a proposed self-storage development.

The county board approved a zoning change to pave the way for a self-storage facility near Crystal Lake’s city limits, despite objections from the city, which has been working to keep self-storage developments at bay, Shaw Local reported.

The board voted 14-3 to clear the way for Prairie Enterprises LLC, a business entity that traces to Marengo-based Highway 20 Self Storage, run by Kyle Lindley, to develop the site of the former Flowerwood nursery, near the intersection of routes 14 and 176. The property is adjacent to Crystal Lake but falls under the county’s jurisdiction. Lindley owns three other self-storage locations in McHenry County.

“If the city of Crystal Lake doesn’t want them, I welcome them into our county and our business organization,” county board member Jim Kearns said.

Crystal Lake City Council member Brett Hopkins, speaking personally, clarified that the city welcomes businesses but felt this site was unsuitable for self-storage.

The scuffle in the deep northwest suburbs of Chicago over self-storage is indicative of a broader theme of conflicts being encountered by real estate interests as the commercial property market shifted since the pandemic. With urban centers struggling to fill office and retail buildings, demographic shifts into the suburbs along with the rise in online shopping and the pandemic’s exposure of gaps in the U.S. supply chain raised the demand for logistics facilities and self-storage nationally.

That has brought pushback from local governments, including in nearby Deerfield, a northern Chicago suburb where developer Bridge Industrial last year dropped a plan to convert the sprawling Baxter International office campus into a warehousing complex after residents raised concerns. Bridge also explored going through Lake County channels after an initially cold response from the Deerfield government to receive approval for the massive conversion before abandoning the proposal.

Back in Crystal Lake, its city council previously considered a 5 percent self-storage tax but dropped the idea after pushback from the industry. A nearby village, Lake in the Hills, also in McHenry County, eyed a similar proposal but also killed it.

Crystal Lake officials had tried to negotiate with Lindley’s development team, but those talks failed to reach an agreement, the outlet reported.

The Highway 20 Self Storage entity is under contract to buy the property near Crystal Lake at 7625 U.S. Highway 14.

The county’s zoning board had unanimously approved the change. County board members who supported the redevelopment said that decision shouldn’t be overruled.

“Very good, competent people have worked this process,” board member Matt Kunkle said. “For any of us to now say, ‘We’re smarter than the process’ — no, it’s politics and bureaucracy.”

— Rachel Stone