Harbour Grace looking to tighten rules on sea cans being used as sheds

By Craig Westcott

Harbour Grace councillor Christine Hearn says some people are getting around the development rules accessory buildings by placing sea cans on their properties.
Sea cans are the big containers used to ship goods by boat and are the same size and shape as trailers pulled by transport trucks.
“It has been brought to our attention… that we’re seeing a growth in the number of sea cans coming up in the community,” Hearn told council at its monthly meeting December 15. 
Hearn said the Town’s municipal enforcement officer checked the regulations and there’s nothing specific about sea cans.
“But they are on the rise both commercially and personally,” Hearn said.
The Town has regulations and standards governing the construction of sheds and garages, Hearn noted, but that’s the case for sea cans and how they are placed or used.
“People are using them similarly to a shed or a garage, and some of them are even having electrical hookups, which now means they are becoming permanent structures,” Hearn said. “So we’re going to do some further investigation on that come early in the new year and we’ll be reaching out to locations where that has been identified to have some conversations with those business owners and residents. We’re going to try to see if we can keep that in line, because when we do a shed permit (for instance), we say it’s got to adhere to a certain boundary and it can’t be in certain areas, and it can’t be in front of your home, and things like that. So out of fairness to all our residents, if this is something that’s coming into play we need to try to get ahead of it a little bit so that it doesn’t continue to grow and get super out of control.”
Deputy Mayor Gary Baker said he as had inquiries from residents about sea cans too. “They were asking, do we have any bylaws in place covering these,” said Baker. “And we don’t… It’s kind of a loophole in our bylaw system that people are using to put up a shed without a permit.”
Hearn said the Town will check with other municipalities to see how they regulate the use of sea cans as accessory structures.
Meanwhile, councillor Keith Skinner, who chairs the public works committee, moved that council tighten up its policy on building permits generally.
Skinner said whenever a resident obtains a permit for repairs to a property the municipal officer should check to make sure the work is done according to the conditions of the permit.
“Because we’ve noticed there have been people who come in for a repair and they build something else,” Skinner said. 
Hearn seconded Skinner’s motion, which passed unanimously.