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Middletown High School is a crowded place. According to Principal Jay Berno, the school is operating at 113 percent capacity. That makes it difficult to find room for supplies for extracurricular activities, such as drama. Props for that department were housed in a hallway until a fire marshal told the school it was dangerous for students and staff.

To combat the fire hazard, assistant principal Mike Watson said, the school purchased two shipping containers, sometimes called sea containers, at a price of $1,500 each. They were installed in March, Berno said.

The two new containers, which are used by the drama department and the school's greenhouses, joined a third container that had been at the school for more than two years, and is used by maintenance staff.

"[The containers] seemed like a logical solution to the problem," Berno said.

The containers were purchased without consulting Middletown's Board of Commissioners or the town's planning commission, an issue that came to light during the town's April 26 meeting.

According to an ordinance passed in 2004, the town prohibits all storage containers except in cases of renovation, construction or reconstruction, and limits this use to a six-month period. The ordinance states: "Storage containers are prohibited in the Town of Middletown, and no person who owns, leases, occupies or has charge of any premises or property, in whole or in part, shall place, keep or maintain a storage container on the premises or property."

Violation of the ordinance is enforced through a fine of $100 per day per container, meaning the school could accrue $2,100 per week in fines. Burgess John Miller, who is also a history teacher at Middletown High School, said the ordinance was put in place after several residents installed the containers on their properties.

"It was precipitated by a couple of sea containers being located on residential property," Miller said. "That sort of propagated the whole process of whether or not we wanted those in town."

Miller said the town feels the containers are an eyesore, regardless of their color or placement, a position that leaves little wiggle room in compromise between the school and town.

"It's really just the nature of the container itself," Miller said. "It had nothing to do with the color or anything like that. Neighbors don't want to look at that – their size, the look of them in and of itself beyond color was our reason for that ...They're not attractive."

Ray Barnes, director of facilities services for Frederick County Public Schools, said this is the first time a municipality has objected to the use of containers at a school site. He said at least seven other high schools in the county use the containers.

He said the containers are a good solution for the schools in need of storage, as they don't break down and need costly repairs.

"They're inexpensive, they're weather-tight – guaranteed to be weather-tight," he said. "The other thing is that they're more durable than what would otherwise be there, which typically is a wooden shed. With that over time, it wears out, develops holes, needs maintenance. That's the other thing about these sea containers, they're maintenance free."

According to Miller, the town sent a letter to the school on April 12, stating that after 10 days the town would begin enforcing the fine.

Barnes responded to the letter on behalf of the school system, on April 21, asking the town to create an amendment for the school, according to Drew Bowen, town administrator. The school did not remove containers, and the commissioners voted unanimously to send a second letter to the school regarding the containers during their April 26 meeting.

The second letter, signed by Miller, Bowen and Cindy Unugst, the town's zoning administrator, stated that the school must remove the containers by June 30, with fines held in abeyance. If the containers are not removed by that date, the town will reinforce the fines retroactive to April 15, totaling $23,100.

"The commissioners were fairly adamant, the law is the law," Miller said.

Berno said the school is working toward finding an answer to the problem, but wasn't sure what the end result would be.

"We are trying to calculate the exact square footage of space to store the things we need to store," Berno said. "[We have to] come up with a solution that will meet the town's requirements. And that has to be worked out through Ray [Barnes] and the town."

E-mail Tripp Laino at tlaino@gazette.net.