By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

With plans for the City of Apache Junction to expand south of the Superstition Freeway, cargo containers should not be allowed on lots less than 1.25 acres in size, planning commissioners have decided.

“If our city is to grow, we don’t want these things popping up and becoming an eyesore,” Commissioner Shirley Ooley said.

The Apache Junction Planning and Zoning Commission recently voted 4-1 to recommend that the City Council not amend the current code for cargo containers, with Commissioner Dave Hantzsche voting no. In attendance were Chair Theresa Nesser, Vice Chair Peter Heck and Commissioner Hantzsche. Attending by phone were Commissioners Ooley and Michael McGraw.

Commissioner Hantzsche said something needs to be changed with the regulations.

“I think storage containers are a good option for a lot of people. If you drive around, you see a lot of the cheap little 10-by-10 sheds on properties and you can put in as many of them as you want and they get tore up by winds, they dilapidate very easy, they look like crap in no time,” he said.

“You put one of these up, they’re going to last,” Commissioner Hantzsche said of cargo containers. “You put a good paint job on them, you can make these things look very nice and they’ll last. The city can make some permit fee off of them and I think it’s in the best interest for our citizens and the long-term of the city.”

Commissioner McGraw disagreed.

“My main opposition to making any of the acreage sizes smaller than one-and-a-quarter is to piggyback on something Commissioner Hantzsche said was the future of the city. If we are expanding, which I do believe we are, I do not want to see these things popping up all over --- like they have now --- in a new part of the city as it grows,” he said.

“Unless you’ve got an acre and a quarter, I don’t think there’s any other way that you can have a container on your property. And I am looking into the future,” Commissioner McGraw said.

Chairman Heck said he lives on a 1.25-are lot and has three sheds that were there when he bought the property.

“They have been sturdy enough to resist the wind and rain and all that.... They have some wear and tear, but they’re not just disheveled and falling apart,” he said. “I believe that the acre-and-a-quarter requirement is appropriate.”

Looking at regulations

The Apache Junction City Council asked the planning and zoning commission to weigh-in on a resident’s request to review the current cargo container regulations in the zoning ordinance.

Kenneth Coburn, who lives in the 300 block of North Valley Drive in Apache Junction on a lot smaller than 1.25 acres, said he brought it up to be re-reviewed.

“I wanted to use it as a storage container. My mother has been put in a home with Alzheimer’s. Most of her stuff was put into the (store-bought) shed and everything went bad due to varmints, rains, floods, and I ended up having to throw away 95% of her property. I also have stuff that I need to put into a good container that’s not going to get ruined,” he said to the commission.

“I just want to reduce it down to an acre. I’m not trying to change any rules, regulations of what it’s for,” he said. “It’s just a storage container that I can trust is not going to get damaged by rain, wind, flood or anything else. It’s also more secure to where I can lock it and nobody can go up to the side of it and pull it apart,” he said.

According to a cargo container administrative use permit application and process guide at the city’s website, ajcity.net:

• containers shall only be used for personal storage purposes and not for business storage or as a home-occupation workshop;
• only one container of up to 40 feet in length shall be allowed;
• those for permanent storage shall be allowed an electrical connection if properly permitted; and
• those for permanent storage shall be uniformly painted with an earth-tone color --- a palette of browns, tans and greens natural to the Sonoran Desert environment --- and free from surface rust and advertising signage. Approval is required from the development services director if the property owner wishes to custom paint the container with a different color.

City of Apache Junction staff members recommend the current regulatory structure not be changed, Director of Development Services Larry Kirch said.

“Currently three zoning districts that are all 1.25-acre zoning districts ... and they can have cargo containers,” he said to the commission.

“Staff essentially is recommending that we leave this alone. About 80% of the cargo containers we approve are code violations, so people either aren’t aware of the regulation or they choose not to follow it. They may have 1.25 (acres), but they put these in without permits, they don’t do the painting, they don’t do the landscaping, they don’t apply for the one-time permit,” he said.

Uses for the cargo containers --- such as storage boxes used in shipping --- range from housing animals to hobby workshops and an underground room.

“I’ve seen them used to house llamas, with a hole cut in the side, so they seem to be appropriate,” Mr. Kirch said.

“By and large they are used for a hobby room, you can add electricity to these --- code allows that. I suppose you could put air-conditioning in them. We have seen one that’s actually buried under a driveway slab and you go in to it through the basement and it’s like a man cave under the ground, that one. You don’t even know that one’s there,” he said.

Cargo containers are also allowed in commercial districts.

“In commercial districts they have to be used to house materials, supplies, equipment that are used in that business... (T)hey can’t have a cargo container and store their non-business stuff there,” Mr. Kirch said. “So, right now they can be used by a homeowner -- after a permit is applied for --- on an acre and a quarter,” he said.

Chair Nesser asked why the requirement couldn’t be changed to 1 acre.

“What would be the difference if we lowered the size --- and I’m not saying I’m for or against this. But if we lowered the lot size from 1.25 acres down to the 1 acre, what’s the issue?” she asked.

“(T)here was some rationale for the acre-and-a-quarter because then I think there was an assumption that you could have large animals and then you could use this storage container to safely keep food away from rodents, etc.,” Mr. Kirch said. “You can’t have horses and cattle on less than an acre and a quarter.”

Commissioner Hantzsche asked if a homeowner could lose a cargo-container permit if someone lived in it.

“If they are in violation, if they’re using that cargo container for... let’s say they turned it into a mother-in-law suite --- can they lose that permit?” he asked.

“(A) guest house has to be constructed of stick-built or site-built, whatever it might be. So a cargo container by our definition really couldn’t be for a guest house or a mother-in-law unit... Yes, that would be a code violation... Yeah, we would revoke the permit,” Mr. Kirch said. “If we learn later that they converted it to a dwelling, yes we would start a code case and work through the system and have that removed.”

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia, Inc.. USA, since 1987. Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. He also is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows