Town bans use of shipping containers on private land

The Town of Grafton has banned the use of shipping containers on private property after issuing a six-month moratorium on the practice in the summer. 

The Town Board on Wednesday, Dec. 11, unanimously approved an amendment to the public nuisance ordinance that prohibits using shipping containers as buildable material or for storage.

The prohibition includes semitrailers, which board members earlier said are similar to shipping containers. 

“The potential negatives outweigh the potential positives,” Town Chairman Lester Bartel said of the ordinance change.

In August, the board approved a moratorium while it researched the use of shipping containers in other municipalities after several property owners and businesses approached the town about that possibility.

Bartel said homeowners using shipping containers as buildable materials is not the town’s primary concern because such requests would not likely be common. The town is more concerned about businesses proposing to use dozens of shipping containers for construction or housing equipment, he added.

Bartel said the town received an application from a business seeking to use approximately 60 storage containers to build pet houses in the town.

“I’m in a spot now. What do I do?” a resident who wants a structure to store equipment on his property asked during a public hearing Dec. 11. 

Prior to the moratorium, a home on Green Bay Road was built using six 8-by-40-foot shipping containers that are each nine feet tall.

Amy and Kevin Plato told Ozaukee Press they decided to use shipping containers to build their house to achieve a modern and industrial feel. The Platos, who said the house has been well received by neighbors, did not want to comment on the recent ban.

Bartel said the couple’s house will not be impacted by the ordinance because it was built prior to the moratorium. 

“That place is not an issue. But if someone buys a vacant property in a densely populated area, there can be quite an uproar,” Bartel said during an August meeting.

Building houses out of shipping containers has become a trend because of the containers’  affordability and durability.  

Home builder Justin Kuehl of Appleton-based Factotum Fabricor, which constructed the house on Green Bay Road, said a 1,760-square-foot custom home starts at $750,000, while a storage-container house costs $450,000. 

Bartel said PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) units will not be impacted by the ordinance because homeowners aren’t likely to have them for an extended period of time. 

He also said the town will not grant a variance to residents who want to use shipping containers.