Clovis Planning Commission to Consider Self-Storage Facility on Vacant Shaw Avenue Parcel

The Clovis Planning Commission weighed a rezoning request Thursday to place a two-story, 113,576-square-foot self-storage facility on a 2.45-acre Shaw Avenue lot that sat undeveloped for nearly half a century after the city first designated it for office use in 1978.

The parcel sits on the north side of Shaw Avenue between Fowler and Laverne avenues. Under the proposal submitted to the commission, the facility would include a sales office, interior-access storage units, and drive-up units. The project submittal lists 11 parking spaces for the entire site.

The long vacancy traces directly to the Shaw Avenue Specific Plan, adopted by Clovis in 1978 with a deliberate design intention: prevent Shaw Avenue from becoming another strip-commercial corridor like the retail stretch that runs west of Clovis Avenue. The original plan generally barred drive-throughs, restaurants, and retail along the stretch, steering development toward office and professional uses. The restrictions held, but so did the vacancy.

"This is likely caused by the development limitations imposed by the Specific Plan and a lack of market demand for office uses," Clovis associate planner Marissa Parker wrote in her report to the commission. "As the market demands change, it is appropriate to consider allowing land uses that reflect the current demand."

The city began loosening those original restrictions years ago. In 1999, the City Council modified the Specific Plan to allow drive-through uses for financial institutions. By 2005, a Walgreens pharmacy with a drive-through window had opened at the southwest corner of Fowler and Shaw avenues, a block from the subject parcel. Parker noted that in recent years the city has amended the Specific Plan and rezoned multiple parcels along Shaw Avenue for commercial development, though no specific parcel count or rezoning dates were included in the commission documents.

The developer behind the current proposal has not been identified in city filings, and the project submittal does not include a construction timeline, individual unit count, or traffic analysis for the Shaw-Fowler corridor. The adequacy of 11 parking spaces for a building exceeding 113,000 square feet, and whether the project requires a full environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, are among the items still unresolved in the public record.

Key milestones to track: the commission's formal vote on the rezoning (no outcome was available Thursday evening), any subsequent use permit or conditional approval, CEQA clearance or exemption determination, building permit issuance, and the developer's first public disclosure of a groundbreaking date. Residents can contact the Clovis Planning Division, where Parker is the listed project contact, to review the application packet or submit written comment before the item is finalized.