Oconto City Council narrows semi-trailer storage rules

OCONTO – After much debate over semi-trailers and storage, the Oconto Common Council moved a step closer on Tuesday to clarifying where and how trailers can be used as storage within city limits — and how far the city should go in protecting neighborhood aesthetics without hamstringing local businesses.

The issue came to a head at a Jan. 20 public hearing and council meeting where residents, business owners and council members weighed in on a proposed ordinance restricting semi-trailer units used for storage, both wheeled and unwheeled.

Originally, the proposal would have prohibited semi-trailers used for storage in every zoning district except general commercial, light industrial and general industrial. That wording drew concern from business owners who rely on trailers within their operations and from council members worried about unintended consequences, especially in industrial areas.

One appeal came from Bob Dietrich, representing Newcap, a nonprofit with a semi-trailer parked behind its building near downtown.

Dietrich said the trailer has been in place “longer than I’ve been working there,” is swapped out every eight to 10 weeks and holds 27 pallets — 1,134 bags — of insulation.

Dietrich stressed that the trailer is largely hidden from public view.

“It’s hidden from Park Avenue. It’s hidden from Main Street; it is only visible if someone looks down Millidge Avenue,” Dietrich said.

“We’ve never had any complaints about it,” he added.

Losing the trailer, he argued, would be “very damaging” to Newcap, which does not have other space to store that volume of material and relies on bulk purchasing to keep costs down.

Another business owner, Scott Stewart, told the council he has had storage trailers on his commercially zoned property for about 18 years without complaints and is already investing in a cold-storage shed to eliminate some of them.

Stewart sought clarity on whether licensed tractors and trailers actively used in trucking operations would be affected.

Council discussion quickly broadened from individual cases to the broader goals of the ordinance.

Mayor Cliff Martin and council members traced the roots of the current debate back to earlier concerns about shipping containers, particularly when some were proposed in residential areas.

Initial moves to crack down on containers highlighted a related concern: semi-trailers being parked and used indefinitely as storage, often surrounded by clutter.

Mayor Martin warned that multiple storage units could drag down property values and harm the city’s image.

“If you’ve got a storage container and you’re one of the lucky ones, keep it clean all the way around,” he said, arguing that visitors will think twice about moving to Oconto if they see “junk all over the place.”

Several council members, however, cautioned against repeating mistakes made during the shipping container debate, when the council discovered the full impact on businesses only after taking action.

Council members pressed for clear data on which properties would be affected.

Staff reported that there are about 10 properties with semi-trailers used as storage, most in the three industrial or commercial districts the ordinance sought to exempt, with Newcap as the lone outlier in the downtown commercial area.

A council member said he had canvassed residents near some of the affected properties.

He found that most were less concerned about trailers with wheels — which can be moved — and more opposed to unwheeled units that tend to become “catch-alls” for junk.

Residents outside industrial areas, he added, worried about “eyesores” in light industrial zones.

Ultimately, the council voted to amend the ordinance language to remove unwheeled semi-trailers from any list of permitted storage uses, tightening the rule so that only wheeled units could be considered in certain zones.

Later discussion made clear that truly temporary trailers — such as those brought in briefly for events like “Winter Wonderland” or for short-term projects at the wastewater treatment plant — would still be allowed at the discretion of the building inspector and administration.

In a further attempt to balance order with economic practicality, the council signaled a willingness to allow more flexibility in general industrial districts — where some trucking and logistics businesses may have dozens of active trailers — while considering numeric limits for general commercial and light industrial properties.

One proposal, which drew considerable debate, suggested allowing up to three wheeled storage trailers in those latter districts, while declining to cap trailer numbers in General Industrial.

Throughout the evening, alderpersons wrestled with how specific the ordinance should be.
Some argued for a clearly defined time limit — such as how many weeks a “temporary” trailer could remain in one spot — to avoid renewed disputes down the road.

Others warned that over-prescribing timelines could unintentionally block new industrial investment or penalize legitimate trucking operations whose trailers are registered, insured and regularly in motion.

Details on enforcement and the formal definition of “temporary” use are expected to be finalized administratively with input from the building inspector, with council members urging clear communication to affected businesses.

For Newcap and other operators using semi-trailers as practical storage solutions, the new rules may still leave some uncertainty.

But council members said the compromise represents an effort to clean up problem properties, protect neighborhoods and preserve flexibility for businesses that help drive Oconto’s economy.