Canada/Containers in the Matapédia: the MRC will present a new project
The MRC de La Matapédia is always looking for the best way to manage the presence of containers on its properties. For nearly 2 years now, it has been trying to reconcile their necessity for many businesses with the visual inconvenience they can cause.
The MRC de La Matapédia has decided to wipe the slate clean on its draft regulations concerning containers, trailers and storage wagons. After much debate, the MRC has finally decided to start from scratch and come back with a new proposal shortly.
"I don't think it's so negative, but at the same time we had made a lot of progress. We sat down with the city and the MRC, and I think we should have kept all the positive and negative points to start with," says Mécano RL owner Mariève Michaud Lavoie.
By 2023, nearly 300 containers had been inventoried on the MRC territory. Some are at the bottom of company yards, but others are highly visible. Above all, the MRC wants to avoid abuse by certain owners, in particular so as not to detract from the urban visual aspect.
"Yes, unfortunately there are some in the valley just about everywhere that we can see aren't super beautiful, and I understand that we don't want them to become that. But often it's not even a question of containers, it's people who let everything decay everywhere," admits Mariève Michaud Lavoie.
Obviously, companies need storage space, and containers are an interesting alternative to building new warehouses. And more economical...
"It's a win-win situation. If they tell me I can't have any more containers, I don't think it would be good for me to put all my iron on the ground, and tires too, visually. But we're all willing to compromise," says Ms. Michaud Lavoie.
Various solutions have been put forward elsewhere to enable companies to keep their containers. Fences, vegetation or even permission to bury storage facilities are just some of the ways to hide the containers.
"For us, it would really cost more to build a new building. So we can have plenty of alternatives, whether it's fences, a hedge in front, I have no problem making it look nice. But not from scratch," explains the owner of Mécano RL.
Even so, the companies want certain things that were repealed to come back into the new framework, such as the authorization of storage containers in the industrial park. The MRC will propose its draft by-law on January 22.
Source: cimtchau.ca/