Dive Brief
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Cape Girardeau, MO, city officials voted Monday to temporarily stop issuing building permits for construction projects that use shipping containers, a material not currently covered by the city’s building code, according to the Southeast Missourian.
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While shipping containers have yet to be in used local projects, one developer recently submitted plans to use them in a residential development and said it is planning more projects like it in the future. The measure would not impede proposals submitted before April 7.
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Council members cited concerns including the containers’ structural integrity and their effect on nearby property values due to their presumed lower aesthetic quality. The 90-day hold is meant to give city officials more time to consider the implications of shipping container projects.
Dive Insight:
Shipping containers are growing in popularity for residential construction and secondary-use buildings. As such, municipalities in North America are revising their building codes to accommodate such structures more easily.
In Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada — on the northern shore of Lake Erie — a zoning provisions council last month approved the use of shipping containers in industrial, agricultural and commercial zones, according to the Simcoe Reformer. However, the new rule bans containers from use in institutional and residential construction. Toronto and its surrounding markets are facing a housing affordability crisis like that of the U.S.
Sweetwater County, in southwest Wyoming, broached the permitting process and related codes for shipping containers on residential properties late last year, according to the Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner. While the county’s residential code doesn’t currently consider the use of shipping containers, it will be updated to accommodate them. The move is largely in response to the use of shipping containers as accessory buildings.
Many cities across the country are exploring the density-related zoning requirements for accessory dwelling units on residential sites, of which shipping containers could be considered one example.
Those using shipping containers for housing are typically doing so as a way to add affordable units for low- and middle-income residents. Earlier this month, Newport Beach, CA–based Community Development Partners began construction on a $21 million veterans housing development in Vacaville, CA, that will use modified shipping containers to house chronically homeless veterans. It will be designed to LEED Gold standards.
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