The City of Delta has issued a request for bids for a consultant to study existing shipping container storage sites operating in industrial areas, particularly on River Road.
The goal is to assess the impact of container truck traffic on roads and intersections and the outcome of this study will inform future development applications related to container storage yards, according to the city.
A final report is to be submitted February 2024.
Ten Delta sites are permitted to store shipping containers while several others have temporary use permits.
In 2007, council adopted a bylaw which prohibited new outside shipping container storage as a principal use in Delta’s industrial zones, except in the Marine Terminal Industrial Zone in certain industrially zoned sites. Outside shipping container storage is permitted as an accessory use in any industrial zone provided no more than 20-twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) are stored on a lot.
A staff report noted the total number of 20 and 40-foot-equivalent units approved under current temporary use permits was 6,460, while temporary use permits under review could accommodate a further 3,575 containers.
Delta council earlier this year approved temporary use applications to allow shipping container storage to continue at a pair of properties, one in the 7900-block of Webster Road and the other in the 8600-block of River Road.
