By: News Director Larissa Donovan
BEMIDJI– The Bemidji City Council is scheduled to meet for a work session this evening to discuss an issue that’s been coming up in recent Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board meetings.
The council will discuss rules and regulations for temporary storage containers, which, according to conversations with JPB director Casey Mai, have become problematic in recent years.
Several complaints have been filed with JPB staff, with complainants citing eyesore storage containers bringing down property values in neighborhoods, and often with weeds growing up around them.
The JPB staffers have recommended an amended fee schedule that incorporates a fee for temporary storage structures, at $250 plus $1 per square foot, compared to the standard land use permit for a residential structure being $150 plus twenty cents a square foot.
The JPB seeks the city council’s advice on how to proceed in creating an ordinance and establishing enforcement on these types of structures.
