Sacramento County supervisors approved a self-storage business Tuesday despite widespread opposition to the project in Arden Arcade.

Opponents said they gathered more than 400 petition signatures against the project, which will be in a predominately residential area on Marconi and Norris avenues.

Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of the project after more than four hours of testimony. They changed the property's zoning from office to commercial.

Marconi Self Storage should be built within 10 months. It will include a 12-foot-wall and allow storage of boats and recreational vehicles.

Opponents said similar projects are considered industrial and belong along highways, but Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan said self-storage businesses are increasingly being placed near nicer neighborhoods.

The board did remove one of the most controversial aspects of the project – a cellphone tower.

The developer, Potter-Taylor & Co., had planned to try to disguise the tower as a pine tree, a common strategy for overcoming neighborhood opposition to towers.

But Supervisor Jimmie Yee wasn't buying it. After seeing a simulated image of the disguised tree, Yee said looking at the tower was like "poking my eye with a stick."

About 40 people attended the board meeting to oppose the project. They said traffic, noise and other elements from the project don't fit with the area's character.

"Once again, people in Arden Arcade are being stabbed in the back – by this project," said Robert Cervantes, who lives in the neighborhood.

Supervisors said they supported the project because it will replace an old AT&T office building that has been vacant for several years.

A real estate analyst hired by the developers said there was no chance the building could be sold with office zoning because of the high rate of vacant office space on the market.

Supervisor Susan Peters, who represents Arden Arcade, said some residents close to the project favored it, in part because the old office building had been the site of vandalism and blight.

Supervisors said the project has been improved because of concerns raised by residents. Before Tuesday, the developers had agreed to drop one of two cellphone towers planned for the project. They also agreed to make a variety of landscaping improvements.

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