On 06/21/2021 the Municipal Services Committee voted to recommend a staff proposal that the Council prohibit the erection of pole buildings and the use of metal shipping containers as storage sheds.
Inspections Supervisor Kurt Craanen said that staff was bringing this forward because they have started to receive inquiries about pole buildings and shipping containers. They said they have issued permits for some pole buildings because the applications came in and did meet the city’s criteria. “And we just think that some of these buildings that are being inquired about and built we just feel that maybe there should be some restrictions them to, you know, protect the character of our neighborhoods.”
He said there were two types of buildings. The first were storage shipping containers which people can buy relatively cheaply now. They haven’t had to issue any permits, but they’ve had a number of people inquire about buying them and putting them in their back yards. Per Inspector Craanen, “we feel that if we get a request, we would have to issue the permit, and I think it might cause some problems in neighborhoods”.
The other type of buildings were pole buildings. He said that years ago, pole buildings were not permitted in the City of Appleton, but some codes changed over the years and they have issued some permits. Pole buildings are typically agricultural-type buildings with metal siding and their foundations are four corners and poles in the ground. Appleton does have a requirement that any accessory building over 100 square feet have a concrete slab, so pole buildings in Appleton are required to have a slab eventhough they are not needed structurally for a foundation. He said he did have a photo example of a permit they issued and thought that when they saw it they would understand that it didn’t look right in a residential neighborhood, which is why they were bringing this issue forward. They understood the alderpersons were the decisionmakers and that they could decide what to do, but they felt that this was something that needed to be brought forward.
Alderperson Joe Prohaska (District 14) said he agreed completely that people didn’t need to have shipping containers in their back yards. Regarding pole buildings, however, he was leery of putting a blanket ban in place because people are building houses out of them now and they can look just like residential buildings. He thought that if they look like a garage but can be built at a third of the price of a traditionally constructed garage and the city still mandates that they have a slab, he didn’t see an issue with allowing those.
Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) said the picture was an interesting example due to the sheer size of the garage relative to the house next door which did not necessarily fit the character of the neighborhood and thought perhaps there was a discussion to be had around the appropriate size of these buildings. He valued allowing residents to do what they wish with their property, but he thought this would be outside of that limit.
Alderperson Prohaska said the city would not allow a giant pole barn to be erected in somebody’s back yard and pointed out that when he put up a shed he had to do a lot drawing and maintain a certain amount of greenspace.
Inspector Craanen said that 1,600 square feet is the largest an accessory building can be provided the house is that bit and as long as there is enough square footage on the lot to still maintain 50% greenspace. A smaller lot would limit the size of the building because there would not be enough room, but if the lot is large and the house on it was relatively bit, it would be possible to basically put a barn in the back yard.
There were some issues with screensharing the picture, and as a result there was some discussion of holding the item for the next meeting to give the committee members a chance to see what Supervisor Craanen was talking about and mull things over.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) thought they might want to put different rules around pole buildings and dig deeper into that.
But the discussion about holding the item and investigating the issues further fell by the wayside when the image was finally pulled up which did in fact show a quite large garage.
Alderperson Prohaska wanted to know, if they banned pole buildings, would a property owner still be able to build a traditionally constructed building that was that same size.
Supervisor Craanen said he thought so.
Alderperson Prohaska pointed out that they were really not gaining anything, then, by banning pole buildings.
Supervisor Craanen said their perspective was that pole buildings typically look like agricultural buildings, whereas traditionally constructed buildings would usally have regular siding like a house would.
There were no further questions and none of the committee members made a motion to hold. They ended up voting 4-1 to approve the staff recommendation to ban metal shipping container sheds and pole buildings. Alderperson Prohaska was the one nay vote.
Alderperson Firkus said the motion passed but that was maybe something to dig into a little bit more in the future and that they could definitely revisit aspects of this in the future.
Alderperson Prohaska said, “Absolutely.”
[I have to say, a very large part of me feels that the city that gave us The Collective sculpture is in no position to make aesthetic judgements of any sort.
There is perhaps an interesting conversation to be had about what is and is not aesthetically appropriate for a building in the City of Appleton and how much control the Common Council should exercise in that regard.
From a personal standpoint, as long as it was nicely painted with some anti-rust paint, I wouldn’t mind a neighbor having a shipping container storage shed in their yard. I also think the garage in the picture, in and of itself, looks fine and wouldn’t be an eyesore in a neighborhood. I would certainly not object to having that next to my house either. The main issue is that it is quite large and does potentially overwhelm the nearby house, but, as Alderperson Prohaska pointed out, banning pole buildings would not prevent that problem.
It also seemed a little odd to me that city staff would see residents starting to show interest in certain types of structures, and their response was not simply to draw alderpersons’ attention to it but to proactively ask for these buildings to be banned. It seems like a more mild approach might have been warranted—one where they brought this issue to the attention of the committee perhaps as an informational item without making a recommendation either way. That way the committee members could have discussed it a little more openly and then decided if they wanted to bring it back as an action item. These structures seem to have benefits in that they are cost effective and accessible to lower income property owners. And, as Alderperson Prohaska noted, pole buildings are a growing thing. One wonders whether, with a little care and thought, the city could figure out a way to integrate one or both of these structures appropriately into our city.]
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=859284&GUID=765DEFC6-4104-46C7-AC95-F5445C5C27A0&Options=info|&Search=
Be the first to reply