Sudbury rules on using shipping containers for storage could soon change

Aya Dufour · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 24, 2025 7:14 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Shipping containers, besides known arsenic oversea cans, marque for an affordable and accessible retention option, but from a municipal readying perspective, they are disfigured and, successful immoderate cases, unsafe. 

Currently successful Greater Sudbury these structures are lone allowed on some concern and cultivation lands, but the metropolis is considering expanding their usage to much areas.

They would, however, stay amerciable successful commercialized and residential areas. 

Aerial photography conducted by the metropolis suggests these structures person proliferated successful the metropolis successful caller years, galore of them without the required permits.

City unit says these projected bylaw changes would beryllium a "moderate approach… that would let unit to measure the impacts" earlier expanding permissions to different zones. 

If adopted, this updated bylaw would springiness immoderate businesses a way to get permits aft having utilized shipping containers illegally for years. 

Clayton Paul, main trader astatine Mazzuca Chrysler successful Capreol, says he'll beryllium tuning successful to those conversations astatine metropolis council. 

The dealership, located successful a residential neighbourhood, softly utilized shipping containers to store files and tires for much than 2 decades until idiosyncratic called bylaw successful 2023. 

"Shipping containers are each implicit the city," Paul said. "But if idiosyncratic doesn't similar you, oregon doesn't similar them, they tin study it." 

"I'm not prepared to region these things. We request the abstraction and we can't spend to build." 

The Northern Ontario Railway Museum successful Capreol has besides been utilizing donated shipping containers to store lawsuit materials similar chairs and tables for decades, adjacent though they excessively are located successful a residential area. 

The non-profit says it's done its champion to marque the structures look good. 

"We had a section creator plan immoderate artwork and painted it precise nicely," says the museum's chief administrative serviceman Joanne Bowers. 

"I deliberation the metropolis needs to look astatine each instrumentality specifically, wherever it's located and what it's being utilized for," she said. 

Some cities successful bluish Ontario, similar Timmins and Temiskaming Shores, let retention shipping containers everywhere. Others, similar Elliot Lake and Hearst, let them successful commercialized settings, but not successful residential areas.