Coaldale council to look at approved shipping container usage within town

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Changes may be coming for shipping container use in the town of Coaldale.

During Coaldale town council’s regular Nov. 14 meeting, they were given a quick briefing on the future of shipping containers within the town.

According to information provided in the agenda, in November 2016, two orders to remedy shipping containers had went before council with a request for reconsideration. Council had then had directed administration to research shipping containers and reach out to community members on regulating shipping containers within the town.

“Since that time — upon the direction of council — staff has reviewed, internally and with the community, what it looks like to regulate the (shipping) containers beyond how they’re regulated currently in the land-use bylaw, which is typically limited to really temporary uses and development permits, or only in industrial areas,” said Spencer Croil, director of planning and community development for the town.

“Essentially, what should be considered ultimately, is how long a container is going to be used, that really dictates how it’s going to be processed and permitted, and beyond that, there are options or flexibility council can provide in terms of whether siding is going to be put on the exterior of the container, if the plan is required to be changed, things like that.”

Croil added that when they discuss land-use bylaw amendments later in the meeting, the matter of shipping containers would be brought up again.

He recommended that council accept this report as information and make a final determination on how to regulate shipping containers in Coaldale after reviewing the proposed list of LUB amendments that are contained further on in the Nov. 14, 2017 Council agenda, and that council direct staff to collect more information prior to addressing potential next steps.

Coun. Bill Chapman asked what the number of containers proposed allowed for discretionary or permitted use would be, and what the size of containers allowed in residential areas would be. Croil said those could be discussed in the land-use bylaw.

Coun. Jacen Abrey asked how accountable companies would be on the safety code side of things in regards to the containers, noting that in the past, “certain measures” hadn’t been taken and variances had to be issued because “proper process hadn’t been followed”.

Croil replied that the containers and “the requirements for certain alterations would have to be followed up on”.

Mayor Kim Craig questioned how temporary the containers would have to be, noting that in the last big flood, they had some issues as some people needed to use the container for a longer period of time while their home was restored, requesting that they make exceptions during times of emergencies.

Council passed an unanimous motion to receive that item for information.

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