Marana experiencing storage center boom

MARANA, Ariz. (13 News) - There are concerns over new businesses taking over in Marana and the northwest side of Tucson.

Many of you are chiming in about the amount of storage centers popping up, especially in Marana.

Some of those comments say things like, “...yet another storage facility! They are starting to pop up worse than the weeds in my yard!”

Another, “Just wow. More storage facilities. Ewww.”

And one more, “I wasn’t super happy about the first storage building, and I’m definitely not happy about the second...”

If you do a quick search on the maps app on your phone, it shows nearly 20 storage centers in Marana. And on the town’s website, under new developments there are three more being built right now.

That amount has many people asking, “How is this possible?”

Marana leaders say that there’s legally nothing the town can do to stop them from being built.

They say as long as a business follows the zoning requirements for a plot of land, they can’t stop them.

When asked whether or not there were any concerns over the large number of centers being built, leaders say they aren’t too worried, especially with how many families are starting to move to the area and the storage centers can be very useful.

“Here [in southern Arizona] you have a two-car garage and maybe one car goes in one side so basically you have a one-sided garage you’re storing all your stuff,” said Curt Woody, director of economic development with Marana. “So there actually is a big need for self-storage.”

Marana is the second-fastest growing town in the state, with 75,000 people expected by 2040. And in the next couple of years, 2,500 rental properties are expected.

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