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It's official: ezStorage can move to Burtonsville.

That was the verdict handed down by the County Council Tuesday, which voted unanimously to pass a zoning-text amendment that allows the self-storage company to finally move forward with construction on the Burtonsville overlay zone.

"I do feel that this is a step in the right direction to the Burtonsville revitalization, and I think [ezStorage is] looking forward to getting involved in helping that whole area improve," said Barbara Goldberg Goldman, a consultant to ezStorage with the Quorum consulting and lobbying firm. "Burtonsville has the potential to be a very exciting magnet in Montgomery County, and I think that enough attention has been drawn to it that will perhaps jump-start the effort and look at the entire zoning process that led up to it."

Amendment ZTA 09-05, which was introduced by Councilwoman Nancy Navarro (D-Dist. 4), passed with no debate over the much-discussed grandfather clause, which would allow existing land owner Siena Corporation to go ahead with plans to build an ezStorage facility on the land.

"Certainly there wasn't any opposition to the grandfathering clause when it came before the council," said Jeff Zyontz, a legislative attorney with the council. "Nobody even spoke against it, let alone voted against it."

Siena Corporation had battled county officials for more than a year to build a facility on land it owned near the intersection of routes 29 and 198. The facility would be located on an industrial overlay zone, where a single piece of land has conflicting zoning restrictions. Representatives for ezStorage said they were initially told they could use any of the zoning uses their site falls on, but they said they were later told they could only use the site for its most restricted zoning uses.

The company's preliminary plan was rejected because it did not fit with the Fairland Master Plan, with some officials pointing to the small number of jobs created as a reason to deny building rights. The circuit court overturned the rejection, spurring the creation of a zoning-text amendment to clarify zoning language. County officials have said the amendment was not created to specifically block ezStorage, though it would have that effect.

Officials from ezStorage met with the East County Citizens Advisory Board and the council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee earlier this month to plead their case. Both groups said the language of the master plan and area zoning was confusing, and they pushed for a grandfather clause that would allow ezStorage to move forward with construction.

The council meeting on Tuesday passed the revised zoning-text amendment, which cements the company's right to build while limiting future self-storage facilities from building on the land. The revised zoning would also restrict the construction of stockyards, trucking terminals, pistol ranges and off-loading of sand, gravel and rocks, among other uses, in certain parts of the overlay.

Debate among the East County Citizen's Advisory Board highlighted the need to reopen the community's master plan to clarify language and examine what residents want to see in the area. It's a step that Goldberg Goldman said was clear after meeting with the board.

"I think master plans need to be reexamined in order to better reflect what the needs are of the area," she said. "What was needed 20 years ago is not necessarily what is needed today."

Meanwhile, a similar ezStorage facility proposed on an overlay zone in Sandy Spring was successfully blocked Tuesday with a zoning text amendment after officials determined it did not fit with the community's master plan.