City council members in Napoleon and the police department are finalizing an ordinance this evening that would ban shipping containers.

Some use these containers as cheap storage, others as homes. Police say it's a safety concern and an eye sore for the community and they wanted to get ahead of the curve before it became a problem.

Nearly 80 miles southeast of Bismarck, in Napoleon, council members and law enforcement have teamed up to prevent people from having shipping containers.

The chief of police says they don't have people living in these containers right now but they say that's what they fear and are trying to prevent.

"Something we wanted to be proactive on so we didn't have this issue. There’s some smaller communities around here and out West that have had to deal with this issue. And it's difficult once you have this issue to deal with the problem once you have it," said Napoleon Chief of Police Troy Nogosek.

The chief says safety is the top concern.

Nogosek said: "So many people could be living in there. There's just so many different variables that you can't control. And you want to to protect the public and people living there."

While many are on board with the new ordinance, others disagree.

"We've got the city council saying that they're afraid that people will try to live in them. We've got people who live in garages now, who also live in campers and ice castles and they don't seem to be concerned about that," said Leona Kuhn, Napoleon resident

Kuhn and others we spoke to say they'd like these containers for storage.

Officers say people will need a permit to have them temporarily in the city.

Police say the fine per day if you don't have a permit and police have asked you to remove the container is five hundred dollars.

The ordinance will be finalized this evening at the Napoleon City Council meeting.