Ephrata to allow big cargo containers

EPHRATA - Ephrata is planning to allow storage containers in commercial areas following requests from Walmart and the American Legion.

The city council decided they wanted to change the present ordinance, which bans the metal containers in commercial areas of the city, during a recent meeting.

"The cargo containers are generally very limited statewide. Many cities have outright bans ... Most allow them industrially. Some allow them in certain types of commercial (zones.) Almost none that I'm aware of ... allow them in residential zones," City Administrator Wes Crago said.

The arguments against allowing cargo containers revolve around how they look, he said. There are safety concerns, such as they float during flooding and they can roll over.

"There are some very positive things about cargo containers," Crago said. "They are convenient. They are inexpensive in relative terms, and they're very secure, so there's a lot of reasons to allow them."

City staff examined a few models allowing the containers in commercial areas, he said. They plan to present the information at another meeting, but they wanted to know whether the council wanted the change.

Walmart needed cargo containers for the holiday season, and city officials worked with the company as much as they could, he said. The containers have been removed.

The American Legion requested a change in the code. Mike Montaney, the Ephrata Legion post's adjutant, stated a container has been at its present location since 2004, and they use it to store more than 100 flags, medical equipment, clothes, books and other items.

"We used to store these flags at the home of one of our members in Lakeview," Montaney wrote in a letter to the council. "When Don Beiermann passed away we had to make other arrangements. We moved the flags and other material to a storage locker on Alder Street. It didn't take us long to decide that $60 a month, $720 per year, we would soon be broke if we didn't make other arrangements."

The group decided to purchase the container for $2,400, placing it behind a store owned by one of their members, until they purchased their present building, he wrote.

"If we're required to replace our cargo container with a structure with equal storage space, it would cost us in excess of $10,000," Montaney said when he spoke to the council. "That money would have to come from somewhere. It would have to come out of our programs. It would severely hamper our ability to serve our community."

He agreed with the general purpose of the ordinance, saying if someone has a red cargo container in their front yard, covered with graffiti, it's definitely an eyesore.

"I would definitely be 100 percent in favor of having it removed," he said. "I would like to invite each of you to drive by the American Legion Post ... and take a look at the cargo container we've got sitting neatly in the back of our property. It's well-painted. In fact, you have to look for it in order to find it because it's not really obvious from the street."

The councilmembers supported changing the ordinance to allow some cargo containers in commercial areas.

Councilmember Bruce Reim said the city does need to establish what it expects from cargo containers on commercial property.

"Like you (Montaney) talked about how you painted yours," he said. "I think there needs to be a maximum number that we would allow anywhere because if we don't put a maximum number out there, the next thing you know we got 20 - that's probably an exaggeration - cargo containers wherever we allow them to be."

The city needs to consider where they can be located as well, Reim said.

"As far as what the American Legion is doing, I'm all for it. That's commonsense, a common good, for the people we and you are trying to serve," he said.

Councilmember Kathleen Allstot agreed the city needed to set a maximum number allowed on the property. She was concerned if the containers were placed along the edge of residential property.

"If I have pride in my alleyway and my beautiful backyard and I looked out my back door and I see a container, that might not be ideal," she said.

Councilmember Valli Millard said the city needed to be careful how they approach changing the ordinance. She pointed to Moses Lake's ordinance, which prevents cargo containers from being more than 5 percent of the floor space of the building.

"In concept, I don't have a problem," she said.