Shipping Containers as habitable space / guidelines in LA city

[Tess Sweet]

Hello everyone!

We just bought a C2 property on York Road in Highland Park. It's zoned commercial but we got a renovation loan that requires us to convert it back into a residence. (It had previously been a home converted into a business) After we live there for a year, we intend to switch it back to commercial. My question is regarding rules and regulations for dropping a shipping container in the back lot to create more habitable space. For now, an office and workshop. I have been researching tiny homes as ADUs, etc, and think the shipping container designs are really cool. See attached pics! 

Anyway, just wondering if anyone knows rules about this. Does it require permits and inspections even if it's not living space? And is it possible to stack 2 high? 

Thanks for your insight everybody! This is the best forum ever.

[Lou V.]

Storage:

https://www.ladbs.org/docs/def...

As living space:

(to answer one question, can be 2 stories high)

https://www.ladbs.org/docs/def...

If you've never dealt with the City Department of Building and Safety...you're wise to just hire someone to do it. Especially if you're trying to do multiple things- make an ADU and make that ADU out of a shipping container (residential) and doing all that on a commercially zoned property. I've got a headache just thinking about it. Can't imagine what you are going to go through. Good luck.