After considerable discussion Monday night, the Salem City Council agreed to go through the public hearing process in front of the planning commission to decide if shipping containers could be used as accessory buildings.
Dan and Carma Miller who run 6:10 Coffee on West Main and Mills Cart Road requested permission to use one of the containers behind their store and had the idea rejected. But they wanted to come before the city council after discovering the container buildings already in use at multiple locations in Salem. The number of the containers in town caught the city by surprise since there is no provision for them under the current building code and none had received permission from the city.
If a change is made, City Manager Rex Barbee feels the units should only be allowed in business districts and only for storage.
“A few people we have in town that have just put them in place without permits puts us in a bad position with the community so we have to be able to have the resources to control what goes where. We aren’t trying to be too restrictive to anybody, but the same token we represent the city as well.”
Councilman Jim Koehler suggested the city would not want to force those already with containers to give them up, but Quinn noted they were in violation of the law and such action could be taken.
The council appeared to favor a way for the containers to be legal. Quinn will now send a mailing to all commercial property owners who would be impacted by the change ahead of a public hearing. After the hearing, the planning commission will be asked to make a recommendation to the city council.
The city council is expected to get the issue back for a vote sometime in January.
The Miller’s say while they need the storage room they could make alternate plans until a decision is made by the city council.
