Kemp Mill Beer and Wine wants to rent 21 U-Haul vehicles, including four cargo vans, one pick-up truck, eight 10-foot trucks, and eight trailers. But the 10-foot trucks apparently qualify as "heavy commercial vehicles" under the County code.
So a special exception must be granted to allow the rentals. The store has community support, with 100 nearby residents and business owners signing a petition to allow the U-Haul use. Now the Planning Board will take up the matter at its meeting tomorrow, September 29.
Planning staff is recommending approval of the use. A County Hearing Examiner will review the matter at a public hearing on October 17.
Based on personal experience this location is a disgrace to U-Haul. I recommend anyone who's on a schedule use the location on New Hampshire Avenue instead. I made the mistake of renting from these guys once, and I never will again. I scheduled a pickup time of 8 AM (reservations are available as early as 7). The owner did not arrive until almost 9:30 and made no attempt to reach out to myself and another customer who were left waiting at the door. When he finally did get there, he was completely unapologetic and claimed he'd had a court matter to attend to. He was very unconcerned that he'd inconvenienced his customers and even told us that he wasn't sure he was going to be doing the U-Haul thing any more (as if to say it was too much of a bother.)
ReplyDeleteClearly, he's changed his mind about "the U-Haul thing." However, this experience gives me no confidence that this is a business owner who will be a responsible, concerned member of the Kemp Mill community. This is a mostly residential area, and unless properly managed, something like this could get out of hand very quickly. Imagine, larger and larger trucks coming through this area every morning. The potential repercussions with regards to noise and safety are very concerning!
As the other poster said, this U-haul location is terrible. I arrived one day with an appointment to rent a trailer. The woman behind the desk was rude, and stated that I did not have an appointment. After showing her the printed paper from U-Haul showing my pick up time and location, she said the manager already left and I could not rent. After making her call him back, and waiting 30 mins for him to arrive, he just told me where the trailer was and told me to hook it up myself. If I did not know how to attach the trailer correctly, I could of easily injured or killed myself or another driver.
ReplyDeleteI complained to U-Haul about this, and they were very apologetic. It's a shame because this location is so close to my house, but I'd rather drive further to get actual good service.