Council introduces measures to control use of shipping containers in residential areas

With shipping containers starting to pop up with more regularity in residential areas of the city, Prince Rupert city Council took some steps on Monday evening to put in place some regulations related to their use.

The need to address the topic came after city's engineering department discovered that they had missed something when they put their Building  bylaw into place in 2012, with the growing use of the shipping containers inadvertently missed in that document.

Richard Pucci, the City's Director of Operations provided the overview on the theme for Council on Monday night, providing the recommendation that council provide first and second reading to the building amendment bylaw, which would put back into the bylaw a Temporary Use Permit process.

That would allow for a six month period for applicants to have a shipping container on their property, with the possibility for an additional six months if required.  Mr. Pucci noted that they are considered temporary structures as they are over 100 square feet and they require building permits and currently are not allowed in residential areas.

Richard Pucci, the City's Director of
Operations outlined the scope of a
bylaw amendment on shipping containers
on Monday evening

The amendment to the bylaw will change that, allowing for their use in residential locations however those using them will be, required to state where they are going to be placed on the property and the city will be taking a 2,000 dollar certified cheque as a deposit, which will be returned once the containers have been removed.

The Director of Operations noted that for the most part the main use of the containers is during the course of home renovations or construction, when they are used for storage.

In response to a question from Councillor Cunningham related to any prospect of the grandfathering of existing containers, Mr. Pucci noted that the city has plans to tour residential areas and make note of those that are already in place, providing letters to the residents advising of the changes to the bylaw.

Council then voted to approve the bylaw motion, providing first, second and third reading for it.

The full documentation on the proposed amendment can be found on page 113 of the Council Agenda

You can review the presentation on the issue from the City's Video archive starting at the 18:30 point.



For more items related to Monday's Council session see our Council Timeline feature here.

Further background on the work of City Council can be found on our Council Archive page.