But Port Otago says it is being safety conscious and is entitled to run the depot in Ravensbourne "for as long as we like".
The port company announced last month it would be establishing a new "pop-up" container depot at 160 Ravensbourne Rd, to alleviate storage pressure at the port until it moved to its new depot in Mosgiel.
The new storage yard was being built on a site that contained the remnants of an older storage operation.
Harbourview Stadium Hotel owner Hu Zhang, said it was "really disappointing" Port Otago had not consulted the community about the temporary container depot.
The hotel was situated just before the corner of Ravensbourne Rd (State Highway 88) and Adderley Tce.
The pub directly faced the one-way entry to the pop-up container depot.
Dr Zhang said there had been some fatal crashes on the road in recent years, one happening on a blind corner close to the hotel.
The road was tricky to see down and having trucks travelling down it would not be safe for traffic and could be noisy, he said.
Dr Zhang also said customers now sitting in the ground floor of his two-storey pub could look out and see the whole harbour front. However, he believed most of this view would be lost if the container yard was in place.
Sawyers Bay resident Kerri Spence said she was concerned by the lack of consultation regarding the depot.
Ms Spence said the entry and exit routes to the depot were not that wide, and she was concerned an increased number of trucks could be pulling in and out along Ravensbourne Rd.
West Harbour Community Board member Jarrod Hodson said he brought the depot to the community’s attention through social media last year and had since expressed their concerns, as well as his own, to Port Otago.
"There isn’t a lot we can do, but what I can do is constantly be there for the community and contact [Port Otago] the minute anything’s breached or there are concerns that are not being met."
Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said the company had engaged with the community board about the depot for some time.
However, Port Otago had not seen the need to consult Ravensbourne residents.
"We’re more focused on what our obligations are to the DCC and to other authorities to ensure we’re operating the site in accordance with the consents and the rules, which we will do," Mr Winders said.
The site of the temporary depot was located on industrial land zoned under the council’s Second Generation Plan (2GP), he said.
Port Otago had bought the land last year from Ravensdown and no consents were required to construct the pop-up depot, he said.
While Port Otago planned for the depot to be a operational for about two years, it was entitled to run it for "as long as we like there", Mr Winders said.
The company planned to eventually relocate the containers to its depot in Mosgiel and would then look to develop the Ravensbourne site into "anything from a log yard to a factory or an industrial park", he said.
Safety was paramount to Port Otago and it had managed any potential traffic incidents by having separate entry and exit points which were one way.
Mr Winders suggested containers could in future be stacked higher than the 14.5m previously announced.
"It’s our site and we’ll operate it at 14m, but we have the potential to go to 20m if we choose to do so."
When it announced the depot, Port Otago acknowledged its plan to stack five containers about 14.5m high could affect views in parts of the suburb.
