LAKEPORT, Calif. – In response to issues arising in the Valley fire area, the Board of Supervisors has approved a proposal to defer enforcing a prohibition on placing shipping containers on properties during construction activities.

Lake County Community Development Department interim Director Scott De Leon asked the board to approve the measure on Tuesday.

At the end of March, a complaint from a Valley fire survivor began circulating on social media regarding shipping containers on properties being red-tagged, with a 30-day requirement to remove them.

Lake County News contacted De Leon about the issue on March 24, and he confirmed at that time that there had been a couple of such situations where a county inspector issued the red tags in the process of enforcing current codes.

De Leon said that he appreciated the need for people to have that storage option while rebuilding, so he was working on a temporary placement policy.

On Tuesday, De Leon went to the board with that proposal.

“As we get into construction and we get into the construction season, we're running into issues,” he said, with one of those issues being the temporary placement of the shipping containers during construction activities.

“We have existing rules, we have existing ordinances,” he said, and in the rebuilding and reconstruction, they are running into situations where those existing rules are problematic.

As a result, he said county staffers are faced with a question – do they enforce the current rules and ordinances on the books or do they overlook them?

“They've taken some abuse over it” in public forums, he said – an apparent reference to the social media posts – but they're doing their job.

De Leon said that, in response, he's crafted what he believes to be a “workaround” for temporarily placing the containers.

Changing the county's zoning ordinance requires a lot of steps and a lot of time, De Leon said. Instead, he proposed the board adopt his measure to give staff and the public some relief from the existing rules.

De Leon said the current zoning ordinance allows for the permanent placement of commercial shipping or cargo containers on properties so long as the containers meet the following conditions:

– They must be screened completely from public view by buildings, fences or walls, or they must be covered with wood siding and a roof.

– The containers must be equipped with a mechanical latch or a similar mechanism to hold the door in an open position when occupied, or be equipped with a mechanism to unlock the door from the inside.

“The current ordinance does not provide any consideration for the temporary placement of these containers,” De Leon said.

He said staff was asking for the board's approval to defer enforcement of that zoning ordinance rule relating to the containers.

De Leon said he wanted to allow for the temporary storage on properties under the following conditions:

– The property owner must have an active building permit with the county for a dwelling, accessory structure or temporary dwelling.
– The container may only be used for the storage of equipment and materials associated with the construction of the permitted structure.
– Prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the permitted structure, the container must either be removed from the property or brought into compliance with the conditions of a permanent installation.

De Leon said that containers that are brought in and placed on vacant properties or properties without current building permits will continue to be red-tagged because they do not meet the conditions of either the zoning ordinance or his temporary workaround.

He said the proposal is meant to allow property owners working on construction to use the containers for storage.

Supervisor Jim Steele asked if the temporary placement rules would require the mechanical latch to prevent someone from being locked in. De Leon said it didn't.

Steele was concerned that the requirement was needed for safety and to prevent people from being trapped.

“You can only get trapped in there if somebody intentionally locks you in,” said Board Chair Rob Brown.

Supervisor Jeff Smith pointed out that the containers have a swing lock that has to be locked into place.

Steele then asked about adding a requirement to have the containers locked open during construction work.

Brown said he had never heard of anyone being locked into a storage container. Steele said he had heard of such a case. Supervisor Anthony Farrington joked that it was Steele himself who had been locked in, which caused Steele to laugh and jest he had been trapped for several days.

“You can't regulate stupidity,” said Brown during the discussion on the mechanical latch issue.

Steele said the proposal would get his vote if the safety requirement were added.

At the end of the short discussion, the board voted 4-1, with Steele voting no, to approve De Leon's proposal.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.