Jackson seeking public input on shipping-container homes

The city of Jackson is looking for public input on shipping containers as building materials, after Cape Girardeau debated for months on the issue.

Jackson’s planning and zoning commission will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Jackson City Hall, 101 Court St.

The public is encouraged to attend, building superintendent Janet Sanders said.

The public hearing will be “the first step for considering amending our ordinance to allow shipping containers for construction, as far as zoning,” she said.

The meeting’s focus will be citizen input, Sanders said.

Developer Quinn Strong spoke to the Jackson Board of Aldermen in August about his proposed shipping-container homes.

Sanders said after that meeting, she took the board’s recommendation for further study to the planning and zoning commission.

When the commission met Sept. 13, they recommended a public hearing, she added.

“We want as much input as possible. We want people to come,” Sanders said.

This is the first of two public hearings, she said.

The commission will study the input received at the hearing and make a recommendation to the board of aldermen, which will hold a public hearing before considering an ordinance change, Sanders said.

“Any zoning-code change requires a hearing at both levels,” she said.

Planning and zoning likely will work for a couple of months on this decision, Sanders added.

The city doesn’t have any requested building permits for shipping-container construction, so “it’s not something we need to make an instant decision on,” Sanders said. “We need to do some studying.”

The shipping-container debate in Cape Girardeau earlier this year got the committee’s attention, Sanders added.

Ultimately, the Cape Girardeau City Council rejected the use of shipping containers as dwellings, voting unanimously Sept. 18 after several rounds of hearings and votes.

Right now, Jackson’s zoning code does not address shipping containers as building materials, Sanders added.

“The code allows used materials, which [shipping containers] are, if they’re approved by the building official,” Sanders said, “but not knowing enough about them, we do not approve those right now.”

That’s not to say that won’t change, Sanders added, “but we need to see. Zoning-wise, we have to deal with that first.”

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

101 Court St., Jackson, Mo.