Art & Inspiration HAVEN HILLS AUTO CLUB

I will be burning the weeds down, moving the workbench, mulching, creating a border with field rock, and have legit plaques made with the title, history, and explanation of the scene signed by me, the artist. Too late in the year to plant flowers. The plaque should make the installations legal art protected under the first amendment and many other art laws. In court, they are always trying to prove intent. My intent is not to "store". My intent is to "display". Art must provoke an emotion, and the first amendment is there to protect even the most controversial expressions of art.

 

Yes, I am zoned residential with an ag exemption. I have a steer, "Herbert" to lock in the exemption. The township said that passenger vehicles do not count as farm equipment. I may fight the Jeep though. My Jeep is military surplus and not a civilian vehicle. I believe military surplus is considered equipment. Plus, flat fender Jeeps were advertised and used for farming.

 

"The 70s trucks are moving to another property of a friend for the winter".

Just curious but exactly how many 'objects de art' are we talking here?

 

I was "storing" a 1977 Ford F150 4x4, 1979 Ford Bronco, 1964 Plymouth Barracuda, 1965 Dodge Dart visible from the road. The two Mopars were getting parted out and the two Fords were future projects. I have a 1970 Opel GT parts car and 1954 F250 project for sale and hidden out back out of view. The Jeep is also for sale out front of the new barn. Total art trucks are 4 making 3 different art "displays" we use for photo shoots. So, I need to move the Mopars and Fords and they have only been there for 6 months. I thought my neighbors were cool about it. I do keep in touch and talk cars. I have 6 projects in the barn, and 2 more stored off site in another barn. I already sold or parted out 4 other vehicles this summer. I really need another barn, but that is still a couple years away.

 

The 70's Fords, 60's Mopars, and Opel GT are NOT art. They are/were projects.

 

This is how I see things as described by you. You have at LEAST 5 inoperable vehicles visible from the road at this time. This does not include your "art trucks" which may also be visible from the road. Five plus your "art" makes for a LOT of visible junk (as viewed from the road). Top that off with the possibility that you may have had 4 others visible from the road based on your "I already parted out 4 other vehicles this summer" and I can see why the neighbors ain't thrilled. Again, no specific pics provided but this suggests that you not only had a lot of inoperable vehicles visible to neighbors/passers by, some of them are incomplete and some of them were in the process of being parted out. THIS is where the "chop shop" accusation is coming from. From the sounds of things, your property literally gives the appearance of being an unlicensed wrecking yard and it also sounds like it may not be far from the truth. This is NOT an attack on you by me, I am just trying to paint a picture of what exactly is going on.

I personally have no problem with what you are doing but clearly others do ...

I would say that you need to remove, relocate, move indoors or scrap/sell anything that isn't 'art' so the town will hopefully leave you alone. You still have to get the town to accept your art cars. At this point, due to the town being involved, unfortunately even the cars not visible from the road are a problem. Once the town has be satisfied, start your parts business once again but do NOT park them in full view of the road or the neighbors. Find your buyers on the internet. Dont give the town or the neighbors a reason to complain. As far as feuding with your neighbors ... I wish you the best of luck while expecting the worst outcome. Make them happy, then hide your new collection-mess from them and the problem goes away.

This advice is worth exactly what you paid for it so proceed with caution

 

I'd still try moving the cars/trucks to the backside of the barn, and a fence screening them from any other property or roadway. If nobody can see them then they won't complain. Maybe you'll need to move them all off site for this winter until you can build the fence in the spring. By then the neighbors will have cooled down.

I have some parts out behind my workshop, but a 6' wood slat fence on the property line, so only someone who really tries to look could ever spot them.

 

So i,m just back from google earth where i looked up your location Pennfield Township and surrounding neighborhoods. Man , that town is neat . Looks like everyone has nothing else to do besides mowing grass. Like every square foot they can find. Even out of town . btw, could,nt find your place.

 

I can/will move some cars off site for the winter. I already cleared a 50ft x 60ft section out back behind the hill to store my junk. Just couldn't get it finished by winter. The main reason this came up now is the field was cut down next to the new barn. For the record, I am not in the parts business. I have a very specific list of projects I want. Some times I need a parts car to serve the main project. The four trucks I parted out this summer were not visible from the road. They were out back, and I only had them because a family friend passed away and I was trying to do right by him. They donated some parts to my Bronco and the rest was sold to a worthy father/son for cheap cheap cheap. I do not make money off the parts. I loose money every time. I'm just trying to save some iron and help who I can where I can. I agree, this year was crazy, and a lot happened. But, I did not have stuff all over the yard. I had stuff neatly organized and I mowed every weekend. No trash, or kids toys all over the place. The two Mopars were behind the new barn. I needed to get the roof off of one and the floor and cowl forward off the other for our drag car. I actually tried really hard not to be the "hillbilly neighbor". That why I check in with my neighbors from time to time. This really caught me off guard. Next spring I was gona make the two Mopars disappear and build a lean-to to store the 70s Fords. All projects were on going and would have been moved by early spring. Just a bad time of year to have the fight. But I do see the issues, I just wish they would have brought it to my attention first so we could have worked it out privately as was the verbal agreement I had with the neighbors.

 

The satellite view is 6ish years old and was a bad time to take a picture. It was before the shop got built. It is totally different now. The street view is from before I owned the property. I've been waiting for an update, so I've been trying to make the yard as nice as possible for the next round of pictures. Bad timing all around.

 

I like old cars as much as anyone here, but it sounds like this is a problem that YOU created. Am I wrong?

 

I never said I was innocent here, and I am cooperating with the township. I just don't want to loose my art. These trucks are useless for parts and if they are not enjoyed as art, they are destined to get scrapped. These 4 old trucks have so much more to give as art and inspiration. The car bug has bit me hard, but I am not trashy and I keep things organized and clean. Like I said no trash or random piles of junk. The dairy farm down the road is 20 times worse than me. Some old junk is part of living in the country. That's why people go on Sunday drives, to see the sites. Out of hundreds of positive reactions in regards to the old cars and trucks, this is the first negative reaction I've had. I even mow over 2500ft of road frontage so the neighbors walking don't get ran over by speeders. I really thought I was doing good by the neighbor hood. Every year I make improvements to the house, barns, and property. Some people just have a need to butt in where they're not needed. My belief is that it is none of my business what my neighbor does. Their property is their property. I don't pay their taxes, so it is not my problem. I will never know why people feel the need to voice their unwanted opinions not caring how it my hurt someone financially, physically, and emotionally.

 

Who knows, maybe the person complaining lives a mile or two (or more) away and simply passes your house often, the person or people complaining may not even be a close neighbor.

 

Anything is possible.

 

Last night I was able to remove the two Mopars. They should no longer be an issue. Tonight I will focus on removeing the 54 F250 and a couple axles I had hidden. Pray for nice weather this weekend.

 

The weather is changing fast, I'm off work fighting COVID, and spending money I don't have. But I haven't given up yet even though it might kill me. One garden cleaned up, two more to go.

 

So, if I may say so, if your neighbors are complaining about what we see here, they have a much bigger problem than your property. It seems like they are the type of people who just need to find something to bitch about. Just sayin, Mitch.

 

Second one done. One more to go.

 

Looks like yard art to me

 

Move the shovel 3 inches to my left please

 

I had four cars legit being stored out side and three others for sale. Everything was neat and tidy behind my house and shop. Because of how my yard is viewed from the road, the neighbors complained. I never have trash or junk floating around and I mow the yard every week. They were complaining my old farm was looking trashy and bringing down property values. Every year I make improvements. Sounds like a neighbor wasn't happy with their home value and needed someone to blame. I'm trying my best given my resources at the moment to make this right. It just came at a really bad time.

 

It's like the same people that buy houses right by airports and the like then complain about the noise, the world is full of ass wipes I'm afraid. Mitch.

 

Or move across a school and complain about traffic and parking

 

Quick update. The township is happy with the progress thus far. They have not green lit the yard art trucks yet, but seem to be willing to have a more in depth conversation in the spring. I did not get the third truck cleaned up and mulched. The leaves falling made it impossible to complete anything meaningful. Hopefully I can plant some flowers around the trucks in the spring and fix the yard where needed from using heavy equipment. I will update in the spring with pics of the completed projects. Till then, enjoy the holidays. Thanks for your support.

 

I agree, your displays look pretty cool, don't see much to complain about.