Cape Council to vote on extending shipping-container moratorium

The Cape Girardeau City Council will look to extend its 90-day moratorium on use of shipping containers as building materials when it meets today.

The council imposed the moratorium in April to allow city officials time to determine whether to regulate or ban such use of shipping containers.

Alex McElroy, development services director, said the moratorium would expire July 17 unless the council extends it.

The ordinance on the council agenda would extend the moratorium on building permits for such construction for another 90 days.

The new expiration date would be Oct. 14, McElroy wrote in an agenda report to the council.

Council members are set to approve all three readings of the ordinance under an "emergency" provision. Normally, it takes council approval at two meetings before an ordinance can be adopted.

City officials said the moratorium needs to be extended to allow time for the city's planning and zoning commission to make recommendations to the council and for the council to consider permanent restrictions or a ban on future use of shipping containers as homes or commercial structures.

The city currently has no building regulations about shipping containers.

As for the moratorium extension, Mayor Harry Rediger said the council "probably won't need 90 days."

The planning commission is expected to consider the issue at its meeting Wednesday.

A divided commission narrowly voted in May to recommend the council impose a permanent ban on use of such containers for homes or businesses.

But commissioners voiced support for use of shipping containers for public storage in commercial or industrial zones with a council-approved, special-use permit.

Two commissioners were absent from that meeting.

At its June meeting, the commission, with those two members present, again discussed the issue and voted to table the matter until the July meeting, McElroy said.

Cape Girardeau council members repeatedly have expressed a desire to ban the use of shipping containers as building materials over the objections of developer Quinn Strong.

Strong has expressed a desire to build structures out of shipping containers. A number of cities across the country have allowed such construction.

Strong has said Cape Girardeau city officials should embrace such innovative design.

But council members said earlier this year their constituents don't want such structures in their neighborhoods.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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