Shipping containers not allowed in residential areas

Posted 2/25/21

OKEECHOBEE – Okeechobee County code that prohibits the use of shipping containers on residential properties will continue

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue. Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Shipping containers not allowed in residential areas

Posted

OKEECHOBEE – Okeechobee County code that prohibits the use of shipping containers on residential properties will continue to be enforced, following a lengthy discussion at the Feb. 25 meeting of the Okeechobee County Commission.

Community Developer Director Bill Royce said shipping containers are allowed for use as storage on industrial or agricultural properties but are prohibited on residential properties.

For agricultural properties, the property must be at least 5 acres and have the agricultural exemption which designates the property as a commercial farm property. Otherwise even if the property is zoned agriculture, it still falls under the rules for residential properties in regard to shipping containers, he explained.

“They aren’t structures. They aren’t sheds. They aren’t built to any code,” said Royce. He said of the other counties he contacted, none allow the use of a shipping container as a shed on residential property.

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if we didn’t we have containers all over the place anyhow,” said Commission Chair Terry Burroughs.

Commissioner Bryant Culpepper said the county has gotten rid of the containers that had been used for storage on county property, with the exception of the ones behind the sheriff’s office.

He said he thinks containers should be allowed if used on an agricultural property for storage of hay and you store feed, but create eyesores if they are allowed in residential areas.

“I have neighbors who have three of them,” he said. “It’s ugly.

“If you have 5 acres or more, and you can hide it from public view, I can see that,” said Culpepper. “When you have them on a quarter acre lot, it looks bad.”

“Forty years Okeechobee County was the repository for single wide mobile homes until we brought our codes up,” said Commissioner Brad Goodbread.

He said if the county allows the use of shipping containers in residential areas, “it seems like we are going to be the home for shipping containers because nobody else allows them."

“I don’t think they belong in a residential area,” said Goodbread. “I don’t think they belong in somebody’s yard right next to somebody else’s yard.”

“I don’t believe they belong in residential areas,” agreed Commissioner Kelly Owens. “I do not want the value of my home potentially compromised – market value not appraised value – because somebody has taken the opportunity to move a shipping container in on the property next to me.

“What we are trying to do I believe in this county is to increase the property values,” she said.

Commissioner David Hazellief said in the north end of the county, “people were moving any kind of structure in there and living in it. That’s a health, life and safety issue.

He said the county should prioritize enforcement of the code on the structures people were living in. There are children living in unsafe structures, he added.

As a result of the increased focus on the containers, code enforcement officers started writing up tickets on containers in people’s backyards and pastures, said Hazellief.

“The Prairie is a disaster,” said Culpepper. However, he said, the county can’t selectively enforce an ordinance. The county can’t allow containers in some residential areas and ban them in others.

“I’ve had a container on my property since I built my house four years ago,” said Jason Meyerson. "It’s on concrete. From the street, you can’t see that container is there because I painted it to match my building.” He said he uses the container to store mowers.

He said a code enforcement officer inspecting a neighboring property happened to see him with the container door open, and he was given a warning.
Burroughs suggested Meyerson work with Royce on ways to bring the property into code compliance.

In other business, Brandon Tucker of the Economic Council of Okeechobee County gave the commission a report on code enforcement issues within the county. He praised county staff for their efforts. “I’m happy to report we’ve already made progress,” said Tucker.
Burroughs said he will start attending the magistrate meetings to see if there is an issue there the county commission can help staff with.

Comments

x