Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Ogden officials launched debate on whether to permit use of converted shipping containers as stand-alone accessory structures.
- City Councilman Ken Richey pitched the idea, but he thinks addressing aesthetic questions will be a key consideration.
- The debate in Ogden comes as developers of a new six-story structure made of shipping containers in Salt Lake City start the search for tenants.
OGDEN — Ogden officials are launching efforts to see whether storage units have a place in the city's residential neighborhoods as a six-story apartment building in Salt Lake City made of repurposed shipping containers opens to new tenants.
They are currently allowed in Ogden as long as they're enclosed within another structure, like a garage. But City Councilman Ken Richey proposes allowing them as stand-alone accessory structures — if they're properly retrofitted. He says they could serve as workshops, mancaves, she-sheds and, possibly, accessory-dwelling units.
"If there's a viable way to make them look good and fit in the neighborhood with the siding and whatever, then it seems like it makes sense to me," Richey said at a City Council work session on Tuesday, when officials discussed the idea. Other council members seemed supportive of the idea, and now Ogden planning officials will try to craft a more concrete proposal for future consideration.
As Utah contends with an acute housing shortage, Ogden officials also broached the notion of allowing shipping containers to be converted into accessory-dwelling units. ADUs, as they're known, are smaller secondary homes typically in the backyard of primary residences. "Maybe stepping it at a time, that might be ultimately where we end up with it," Richey said.
But that could be further off given the many rules that would have to be crafted governing things like plumbing and electrical wiring. At the same time, Rod Newman — one of the key forces behind Box 500 Apartments, a new Salt Lake City apartment building made of shipping containers — questions whether shipping containers represent the future of housing.
"You can't get the affordability out of it," he said in an interview with KSL.com, referencing the cost and effort required to retrofit shipping containers into housing. He finally received the certificate of occupancy from Salt Lake City on Wednesday allowing him to actually rent out Box 500's 83 units, geared to low-income tenants per federal affordable housing guidelines.
Shipping containers, steel boxes used to truck or ship goods, have a place, but converting them into livable units, particularly multi-unit dwellings, is complicated, he's come to learn. Box 500, he said, was "an engineering feat" and he wonders whether shipping containers are "a fad." Modular construction using premade panels for walls, he maintains, is "the future."
Still, Newman thinks shipping containers serve well as mancaves, garages, cafes and other small businesses. His company, Eco Box Fabricators, has handled numerous projects around Utah, Wyoming and Montana.
Ogden officials didn't delve deeply into the pros and cons of shipping containers. Aesthetics and making sure they blend well with their surroundings were key discussion points. Nevertheless, they seemed intrigued with the idea. "I think there's a place for it in our ordinances," said Councilman Bart Blair.
Meantime, Meleana White, of The Container Girls, a Salt Lake City-based firm that converts shipping containers for alternative uses, is bullish, perhaps not surprisingly. "Their steel construction makes them far more secure and weather-resistant than traditional wood sheds, and they offer a modern, industrial aesthetic that many homeowners love," she said.
They can serve as sheds, workshops, ADUs and more, and she thinks, depending on the conversion, they have broad appeal. "If Ogden moves forward with these changes, it could set a great precedent for other cities looking to embrace innovative and practical housing and storage solutions," White said.
