PODS are popping up all over, and staying; unsightly storage sheds can obstruct traffic and parking, commissioners say

By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer
MARGATE – PODS are popping up in neighborhoods all over Margate.
Though nothing like the menacing pods from the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” these PODS do have the potential of becoming a real pain in the neighborhood.
The Portable on Demand Storage sheds are a convenience for homeowners and building contractors, but the hulking eyesores can become a public nuisance when left on a property for prolonged periods.
The city commissioners are following in the steps of other municipalities in the region that have found it necessary to regulate the length of time they may be permitted at any one property. In October, they proposed an amendment to the city enforcement code that would regulate use of the devices.
“They cannot just be dropped in front of the house with no limit to the amount of time the POD is there,” said City Commissioner John Swift.
“Do you want to look out your window and see that box sitting there for months?”
Margate City Commissioners debated the length of time a POD might be permitted, but they were in total agreement that a time limit is essential.
“It is one thing to have these things as a convenience, but people can’t be leaving them in their driveway like their own storage shed for an indefinite period of time,” said Mayor Vaughn Reale.
He told the commissioners that he had heard reports of people using the PODS like another room, continuously moving furniture and other household items in and out of them.
Currently PODS are treated the same way dumpsters are. Residents and contractors doing remodeling or demolition work must get a permit for a dumpster to collect the debris and haul it away.
But unlike dumpsters, the PODS are there to stay until the completion of the remodeling or construction. City ordinance requires that dumpsters be removed when they are full.
“Right now there is no reason for anyone to get them off their property,” said Swift.
At the meeting held Thursday, Oct. 12, the city commission proposed an amendment to the city enforcement code requiring that the Police Department and the city fire marshal approve the permit prior to the PODS being delivered.
Placement of a portable storage device must get the approval of the police to assure that it will not become a traffic or parking concern. In a town where parking is a premium any time of year and 20 times that in the summer, making sure the PODS do not swallow up available parking is an issue the commissioners wanted to make sure was solved before agreeing to any length of time.
The amendment, which will come before the commissioners for a public hearing Nov. 16, will limit the use of PODS to 60 days. Swift said that 60 days was long enough for any neighbor to have to look at the PODS.
The commissioner suggested that if storage is needed for longer than 60 days, then the homeowner might want to consider what people have done for years before the portable devices were around – put the furniture in the back of a truck and take it over to Delilah Road and rent a storage space.
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