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CASPER, Wyo. — Natrona County wants to make it easier for residents to store their toys, but county planners aren’t ready to sign off on a storage site next door.
Despite a 45-day public comment period that yielded zero feedback, the Planning & Zoning Commission balked Tuesday at a proposed zoning amendment for personal warehouses, citing a lack of safeguards against neighborhood creep and the potential for commercial-sized structures to dwarf neighboring homes.
The commission unanimously voted to table the amendment that would permit property owners to build personal storage warehouses on vacant lots. The amendment, designated TA260-01, would define warehousing as the storage of personal property — such as recreational vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, boats and equipment — within an enclosed structure strictly for the owner’s use. The proposal sets a minimum lot size of 2 acres and explicitly strikes “mini storage” from the definition to prevent commercial operations.
Natrona County Planner Sabrina Kemper told the commission the amendment was drafted to accommodate property owners seeking dry storage without the requirement of building a primary residence.
“A lot of the residents that have come in desire to have a dry structure, maybe have electric on it, but they aren’t really looking at this being a future residence for themselves,” Kemper said.
Despite the intent for personal use, commissioners worried that a lack of height restrictions and a maximum lot coverage allowance of up to 50% could lead to oversized structures.
“What’s to stop somebody from building, you know, this massive steel building which houses all sorts of trailers and whatever next to someone’s house or property?” Commissioner Chad McNutt asked. “I think these are some of the unintended consequences that could occur if something like this goes through.”
He also spoke about the potential for creep, where an owner might start unofficially storing items for friends and increase traffic in quiet residential areas.
“You now have a person who bought their property, they live there, and they didn’t sign up for a large storage building on the property next to them,” McNutt said. “All of a sudden it’s just a storage site and people are coming and going, bringing their trailers and stuff in there.”
Kemper acknowledged the concerns, saying that while storage buildings would default to the current setback requirements of their specific zoning districts, the county often relies on code enforcement to handle neighborhood disputes over unauthorized commercial activity or property boundaries.
“We try to work with people a lot because we really want people to be able to do what they want, but we also want to consider the neighbors and what the residents around that area also want,” Kemper told the commission.
The amendment had previously undergone a 45-day public comment period and received no written feedback, according to Kemper. No community members attended Tuesday’s public hearing to speak for or against the measure.
Instead of voting on the proposal, the commission approved a motion by Commissioner Ray Schulte to table the measure until its April 14 meeting. The delay directs planning staff to evaluate potential adjustments, including increasing the minimum lot size to 5 acres, doubling property setbacks, and establishing specific maximum lot coverage requirements for the structures across different zones.
In other business, the commission welcomed new zoning planning technician Maddy Pennington.
