Vanderhoof city council discussed options on how to deal with the proliferation of shipping containers in recent years.
“These containers are showing up in the community and they’re showing up on our main streets,” said Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen. “They’re starting to be intrusive on the community.”
The main problem is dealing with the aesthetics of the containers, they’re unsightly, said many of the councillors, and Vanderhoof hasn’t any specific bylaws to deal with them.
“They’re not something that we want to see totally outlawed but we want to have some regulation as to how they’re used and where they’re put,” said Mayor Thiessen.
The mayor admits he owns one himself but stated at council that no one except him and his family have ever seen it.
Most of the councillors seemed to lean on the containers remaining hidden from public view unless temporarily part of a construction site.
Any decision on how to deal with the containers has been deferred until the Official Community Plan, which was to be finished last Christmas but now it will be Tuesday, June 4.
In Prince George, shipping containers are defined the same as sheds or outdoor storage and therefore require screening. Their bylaws also state that no shipping containers, cargo containers or rail cars are permitted in residential, commercial and certain public parks.
