The City of Kalona has temporarily suspended the acceptance of building permits with requests for cargo containers until it can update its code to account for them. 

City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said at the Kalona City Council’s Monday meeting that the city has seen an influx of requests for buildings such as storage units constructed out of metal cargo containers. The requests have been in both commercial and residential zoning areas. Schlabaugh says that while it has been using the International Building Code to rule on those requests to this point, if it wanted more control over the use of such building materials it would need to change its own zoning code.

Schlabaugh went on to suggest that the city could restrict the use of cargo containers in residential areas while allowing their use in commercial areas. Without changes to the code, though, the only change the city could make immediately was the temporary hold. The council voted unanimously to put a hold in place.

The hold went into effect immediately.