The Warren County Commissioners held a public hearing on an ordinance regulating shipping containers on residential properties on April 17. 

The ordinance would establish permitting requirements, regulations on the container’s appearance and location and limits on how many containers can be held on one property. 

“We’ve got a lot of complaints on here in probably the last two years, we’ve gotten a lot,” said Warren County Planning and Zoning Administrator Bill Roemer. “People are putting them in the front of their house, putting them on their driveways and leaving them there.”

The commission expected to pass the ordinance some time in the next few weeks, after some changes were made. There were no members of the public in attendance at the meeting. 

Per the ordinance, property owners would be allowed up to four containers on three acres of property, along with an additional container for each additional acre past three. 

The containers will be required to be placed behind the main building on the lot out of view and must be painted a solid and neutral color. The ordinance offered several examples including beige, taupe, grey, cream, brown and others. 

Roemer said the main motivator for the paint requirement was to remove graffiti from the containers. 

“One of the main items was that they become all neutral in color, be that what it is, but paint them all, get rid of the graffiti,” said Roemer. 

A one-time permit fee of $100 would also be assessed for each container and owners would be required to submit plans and other information about the property and container for approval. 

The permit requires applicants to submit a number of documents to the county planning and zoning office providing information on the containers and the property. 

Applicants must submit personal and contact information, information on the property including a site plan detailing where and how the containers will be used. They must also verify whether the container will meet any homeowners association requirements if applicable and whether the container will be temporary or permanent. 

The ordinance also spelled out a separate permit for temporary containers that will not be on a lot for more than 90 days. 

Per the ordinance, the containers cannot be connected to utilities. 

“It shall be unlawful for any electric, gas, telephone or water utility being connected to its lines to any building structure or site in the county unless appropriate permits or approval has been granted by the appropriate county authority,” said Roemer. 

The containers are required to be placed on a flat area and the ordinance also stated no more than two containers cannot be stacked on top of each other. 

When two containers are stacked atop one another, Roemer said the ordinance requires a solid foundation to support the structure. 

“It’s gotta be solid,” said Roemer. “It’s got to be a foundation, it’s got to be solid.”

The ordinance also does not permit owners to rent out their containers for commercial use. 

“This is just for their own personal use at their house,” said Commissioner Matt Flake. 

Roemer said once the ordinance was enacted, the county would have the authority to assess the containers value as outbuildings, and could go back to any containers that have been installed within the last three years to do so. 

Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus asked about how existing containers would be grandfathered. Roemer said existing containers would be grandfathered from the ordinances required, but any new containers would have to be up to code. 

Gildehaus also asked about anchoring requirements for the containers, since it specified when they are stacked two-high, the top container must be anchored to the bottom. 

He felt there should be additional anchoring requirements for containers when stacked. 

“If they’re two high, I would suggest the language be that the bottom would be anchored to the ground, and the top (container) would be anchored to the bottom, mechanically or welded,” said Gildehaus. 

Roemer also said since they are requiring permits for the containers it would allow county staff to inspect the containers to ensure they are in line with the ordinance. 

The commissioners were in agreement about the anchoring requirements and felt the rest of the ordinance was acceptable as written. 

They directed Roemer and county attorneys to add the anchoring language and planned to approve the ordinance in general session in the next couple weeks once the changes were made.