Olney considers rules on shipping containers

Olney Enterprise
BY: GINA KEATING | EDITOR
Thu, 04/20/2023 - 12:00am

The City Council will consider whether to ban or restrict the use of shipping containers as outbuildings or residences inside city limits after a resident complained at the public hearing period on April 10 about a container that recently appeared at Oak Street and Avenue E.

Carol Vorel told the Council that the “very large and quite ugly shipping container takes up most of the yard” and asked what ordinances governed their use.

“I don’t think we have an ordinance,” Mayor Rue Rogers said, noting that the City “needs to address that” in light of a code enforcement push that the Council hopes will clean up trash and derelict properties and attract developers to build homes. Ms. Vorel noted that the container is near the Oak Street lot where Lance and Corey Groves are building the first new home in Olney since 2015. The Groves are building 10 homes in Olney as part of a documentary-style TV series that will showcase small town renewal.

“Especially with the Groves building the new house this really needs to be address because this is not how to make Olney beautiful,” she said. “Is there something that can be done?”

Mayor Rogers agreed that “we need to look into those” and suggested the containers could be allowed depending on the size of the lot.

At a special-called meeting on April 14, the Council discussed another proposed ordinance that would allow residents who are remodeling existing homes inside city limits to live in recreational vehicles on the property. The Council approved a first reading of the ordinance, which allows homeowners to live in their RVs for up to a year while remodeling homes. The vehicles would have to be connected to utilities and would be inspected by City code enforcement officers each year. The Council is expected to pass the ordinance on second reading on April 24.