After given the go ahead by the City’s Planning and Zoning Board for a Special Use Permit for her U-Haul Rental business, Dana Collins needed to complete one more step in the process.

Denied.

Collins appeared in front of the City Council Tuesday evening to make her case.

“I reviewed the ordinance and did not find anything pertaining to cargo trailers,” said Collins. “At the time I understood that to be off-street parking when I began this, which is permitted in general retail.”

Collins told the council that the vacant lot where the U-Haul trucks and trailers now sit, was in horrible shape and she worked diligently to remove tree stumps, fill in holes, and level the property in order to make it look much nicer than it was.

“I assumed that the city would contact me if there was a problem,” said Collins.

According to her, she was not contacted so plans were made to proceed with the project.

“We signed a contract with U-Haul,” Collins said, “and proceeded to do more than $2,000 worth of repairs to the lot. There was quite a bit of work done to the lot all with the understanding that it was off-street parking.”

A short time later, Collins received information from Planning and Zoning that she needed an SUP for the proposed business, in which work on the property came to a halt.

She said improvements to the lot are still needed but decided to wait until the SUP was approved.

After filling out the required paperwork and paying the required $300, she still wasn’t sure why she had to have an SUP.

“I was told it was for a trailer or mobile home sales or rental,” Collins said.

She went before the P & Z Board and was granted a SUP on July 17, 2008, with the stipulation that it would be reviewed after a one year time period, at which time she would provide a list of improvements to said property.

“I’m basically here to remind everyone that I did not proceed out of bounds,” said Collins. “After meeting with P & Z, I went through the ordinance with a fine tooth comb, and found no definition for the word “trailer” (as in the type she plans on renting out) anywhere in the ordinance … not one!”

She told the council that she did find a definition in the ordinance pertaining to semi-trailers, but that particular type of trailer is not what she plans to rent out to customers.

She did find definitions pertaining to trailers found in mobile home parks and RV parks.

“I don’t fault the city,” Collins said, “but I don’t see how they can fault me either.” 

But after giving her very detailed analysis of the City’s Ordinance regarding off street parking, Mayor C.L. Brown felt he needed to hear more input concerning the issue.

Mayor Brown asked Frank Steed (former president of Tony Roma’s, former developer of properties for Bennigan’s and Bonanza restaurants over the past 35 years), and Bill Spae (former CEO and president of Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale) to speak on the subject.

Both are from the lake area and are members of the City’s Strategic Planning Committee to help bring tourism and businesses to Corsicana, to come up and speak on the subject.

Both men were against having the U-Haul trucks and trailers citing that the business is located along a main thoroughfare (Seventh Avenue), and the fact that the vehicles used specifically for moving purposes did have to be visible.

“Truck and trailer rental is not an impulse buy,” Steed said. “It does not need to have a visible “main” street location. You plan your rental and drive to another location to pick up your truck or trailer rental. It does not need to be located on West Seventh (Avenue). If you’re ever going to change the look and feel of Corsicana … if you’re going to start the process that will ultimately result in growth then you must start somewhere and your Strategic Planning Group is asking that you start here tonight. We request that you say no to this Specific Use Permit.”

Spae simply mirrored what Steed had said and added that he was more concerned with safety issues, especially on West Seventh Avenue.

“In the last 18 months,” Spae said, “my information is there have been at least 15 accidents along the area where the U-Haul business is now. A couple of factors, as you (council members) can see is ingress and egress from that lot.”

Spae feels that most people who rent U-Haul trucks are inexperienced behind the wheel of that particular type of vehicle, and feels the possibility of more accidents could take place, especially since West Seventh Avenue has the highest area of traffic in the city as it is.

“I believe what we are doing is setting ourselves up for increased safety issues,” said Spae, “and certainly increased liability … we urge you to vote “no” on this SUP.”

The council voted down the request when it came up for vote late on in the meeting.

Collins was asked what her plans were concerning the U-Haul business, especially after already signing a contract with the company.

“I’m a strong supporter of the community and I’m not going to say I disagree with a thing Bill Spae or Frank Steed said,” Collins said. “I thought what I was doing was improving the city and I felt like I definitely improved that lot … improved business on Seventh Avenue, and had a lot more improvements that I was planning on making at that location … this is my goal … to help improve the city.”

Collins agreed that traffic is a problem on that particular street, and maybe the city should look into making a turn lane in the center or revisit the past proposed loop, but also feels if Seventh Avenue is zoned for commercial and retail businesses, she doesn’t see why they restrict one general retail and not another.

“I don’t want the city in my back pocket,” said Collins, “but I want the support of my city. I support my city and I’d like the support of my city back. When I have a plan to improve a situation I would like my city to support me in that.”

Collins hasn’t decided if she will try to appeal the decision and said she is just weighing her options at this point.

According to Collins, she has received tremendous support from many people, including other business owners.

“I felt like I was on the right track with this and it kind of got blown out of the water, Collins said. “They (city) may have an opinion on off-street parking, or an opinion on truck and trailer sales … it’s open to interpretation, but I’ve read the ordinance backwards and forward and I cannot find how it truly pertains to this.”

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