No Service or Repair of vehicles!

I don't believe that the ordinance can be applied to you in this circumstance. The ordinance is for BUSINESS purposes. Not for what you can do on you own property. You can't repair peoples's cars FOR MONEY in the residential zone. You are certainly entitled to repair your own vehicle on your own property. A judge will throw this out in about 2 minutes. Hire an attorney to write a nasty letter and pay him his $300 bucks and go about your business, uhhh, I mean hobby.

 

I picked up a copy of city ordinances where I work and you are allowed one non operating vehicle in a closed garage for a maximum of 6 months.

 

I picked up a copy of city ordinances where I work and you are allowed one non operating vehicle in a closed garage for a maximum of 6 months.

 

The exact same thing happened to us, except our complainer actually wrote our city bylaws in the 70s. He's retired now but still thinks he has the power to shit on the new car loving neighbors. After a few visits and phone calls from city officials to our house, they soon realized we aren't running a business or doing anything wrong and went and knocked on buddys door and told him hes shit out of luck. Since then he gives me and the rest of our family dirty looks. Were sure to drive by his house a couple times every time we have the hot rod out. Then he complained about too many cars on the street/oil stains from said cars, but they're all insured and registered so again, he's got nothin

 

We see stuff like this and think it is crazy and can't possibly be true, but it is. Towns and cities can pass any law they want and get away with it as long as the majority of it's residents think it is ok.

When we moved to Cape Coral Florida in the mid 80's I had a Chevy van, not a big van, just a mid sized van. My new neighbor came over and informed me trucks and vans were not allowed in Cape Coral, and if you had one they had to be in the garage with the door closed. I thought he was kidding but at 3 am the code enforcement nazis gave me a ticket ! One guy came home for lunch and left his van parked in the driveway and got a ticket.

They also had a law you could not work on your own car in your driveway, and the most you could do was change oil and sparkplugs INSIDE your garage with the door closed. My Sons and I were building their cars so we did it inside with the door closed, and the cops would hide down the street waiting for us to open the door so they could sweep in and catch us. I opened the door one time and heard the cop car coming with all four barrels open, so I slammed the door shut before he got there..........he was coming through an empty lot like the Dukes of Hazard, churning sand and dust all over the place ! He looked pretty pissed that he didn't get there in time.

The goofy thing was, I could park my POS work car legally in my driveway but my neighbor across the street couldn't park his $ 30,000 pickup in his driveway. They finally got that law overturned when enough young people, who owned trucks, started to move to the Cape and voted those guys out.

Don

 

What you suggest is no different than being stopped for speeding and complaining about the others who were speeding right next to you. \Even though the point is valid, in court it unfortunately means nothing concerning your case.

Legal or not, cities place lots of restrictions on what individuals can do on their own property. Getting justice may not be as easy as you suggest. Although it depends on the judge, it more likely that you will end up suing the city about the validity of the law rather than having your case dismissed by a judge who will contradict the law and see things your way.

That has been beat in court. If it's in your garage, and it's not contraband or dangerous to others, it's no one's business what you have in your garage.

 

Take a look at what this guy has to say about spare industrial capacity in capital goods inherent in residential property, and who the regulations are really protecting.

 

Isn't it a shame how 99% of the lawyers give the whole profession a bad name.

If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?

 

Best way to fight the city is get advice from a bunch of people on a hot rod site..that'll teach em.
I'm a little confused about the 'UnAmerican' part.

 

I would approach your town in person, and ask to see the specific ordinance. Ask for a "definition" of their terminolgy. Does this include the washing of vehicles within the town, as well? Are you breaking the law if you have a flat tire and change it yourself, in this town? Ask for SPECIFICS.
Also ask to find out if there is a pending complaint against you, and if there is, by whom? You have the constitutional right to demand to face your accuser. Good luck!

 

Nahhh I'd put one foot on each of their heads until the bubbles stopped, than I'd go to lunch...why risk one or both of them surviving

as far as this stupid "so called ordinance"

Burden of proof is on them..make them work. and make them work long and hard..they aint got enough of our money anymore to fight us..so just drag it out and keep dragging it out, soon enough it will blow away just like an old fuzzy dandelion, most city politicians or ordinance enforcement people just want their paycheck, they dont want to do anything for it

 

While agreeing with your right to perform maintenance on personal vehicles I would have a problem with more cars sitting around NOT owned by you and an obvious "business operation" appearance if I lived near your residence. The laws should protect you but they should also protect my right to not have my property values affected and reasonable peace and quiet around the home I also purchased. You do own the home right?

A hobby is one thing but daily congestion and noise should be considered an infringment on others.

Not ranting but someone has to look at the other side. The only problem I would have is the complainer should have knocked on your door and at least tried to work it out between parties. That goes a long way in gaining respect.

 

Welcome to the world of local politics. Your ordinances are the result of local legislation by local politicians that are locally elected. Over time, ordinances tend to accumulate because they rarely, if ever, get removed from the books.

Many municipalities enact ordinances that are unconstitutional, but they either don't know any better, or, sometimes they know they may be unconstitutional but do it anyway because so few people will actually spend time and money to object in court.

As far as HOA's, they're not subject to the constitution, so you'd better read up real well before you buy a home in one.

Nobody likes the "code nazi" or the chronic complainer, but nobody likes their neighbor to be a slob either.
I work on my own cars, and I'm careful about noises and noxious fumes and such. I also wouldn't want my neighbor to start their own personal junkyard or body shop.

I doubt anyone would notice if you worked on stuff behind closed doors and didn't make much noise.

 

I would expect this of Vermont or Mass, but NOT NH!
Get a rope....

 

I think the first thing I'd do is call the friend(s) and tell them to get their car(s) outta my driveway.

 

1. Run for local political office or try to get hired as the new code enforcement officer.

2. Make your whiner's life hell in every possible legal way.

 

1. Run for local political office or try to get hired as the new code enforcement officer.

2. Make your whiner's life hell in every possible legal way.

 

That was my first thought.

I used to paint cars for side money and it never failed someone wanted to leave their car on my property until I got to it. Usually partially disassembled.
Sounded a lot like free storage so I stopped that before it became a problem. If it didn`t fit inside, it didn`t belong there.

 

I had an issue a few months back, my neighbor complained I was running a shop out of my back yard and that my air compressor ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. yeah, right.
inspector came by while I was away, he looked around and left his number. I called him and gave him my "day job" work number. he verified I have a full time job away from home and dropped that part of the complaint. he mentioned my air compressor, I asked him if he heard it running when he came by and he said nope. and he dropped that part of the complaint. the inspector told me according L.A. city law an inspector must get permission OR a warrant to inspect what can not been seen from the side walk. since I have a 6 foot fence completely surrounding my property the inspector can't see anything in my yard.
the entire issue was dropped.

 

It amazes me that neighbours who bitch about car repairs won't bitch about noisy dog breeders.

 

Good point. My wife and I have a condo in Dana Point, CA which is in the San Juan Capistrano sewer/water district. A notice recently went out to residents that it is now illegal to wash vehicles in driveways or on the street, violators subject to fines up to $1000. The logic (?) behind this is that the contaminated wash water may drain into the storm sewers which drain into the ocean. Using this "logic", I presume that we will be prohibited from driving on the streets when it rains. Rain water washes dirt and pollution off of cars which runs into storm drains, yadda, yadda .... no?

The inmates have taken over the asylum....

 

And Thank You very much porknbeaner!

 

Experience

 

About $75 per hour

 

If you can negotiate the matter away that's good, but that's not likely to happen.

What the people at the desk will tell you really doesn't matter. In my experience they will tell what they believe, or what they want you to think. What really matters is what will stand up in court. As Mike51Merc pointed out, ordinances are frequently enactyed that are not enforceable. It's very common. Being too broad or vague, as you were alluding to, is a basis for a law to be rendered meaningless. The people who make a living enforcing these laws are not the ones likely to grant any relief or exceptions.

I once had a neighbor complain because apples(not rotten) were laying on the ground under our apple tree. The city was called and the ordinance officer issued me a ticket. As I said, it's not an organization run by common sense. When I appeared about the ticket the officer said the apples were a source of food for rats and mice. I asked him if he had any proof that rats and mice ate apples, and whether he had even seen a rat or mouse eating an apple. Long story short the judge said the city couldn't require everyone to put diapers on all their fruit trees and the ticket was dismissed. I was lucky. Had that judge been as clueless as the ordinance officer he would have found me guilty. At that point I either pay the fine and move on, or take on the city in court. Where I am now the township is considering a millage for the legal costs to defend against a person who is trying to legally develop his land. He's not asking to do anything wrong, they just would just rather that he kept the land as farm fields!

 

I Like the idea,rr on the wood shop tools.The wood chipper should win that noise fight. As my grandfather used to say Some people will keep flipping a turd till they find a wet spot. So a turd flipper lives very close by. Good luck on this waste of tax dollars.......................YG

 

Thank God I live out of the city limits; even with my shop and the old Fords surrounding it, my place is prettier than well over half the 'homes' inside the city limits. If nosy people 'policed 'themselves as much as they do their neighbors everyone would be a lot happier. I'll take my 'dose' of drama on the HAMB any day rather than be a city dweller!

 

^ this.

We live on 32 acres, do what we want, when we want to. Baffles me why folks move into neighborhoods where they have to get the color for their new shutter paint ok'd by some committee...

My first instinct was to tell you to move, and enjoy whatever lifestyle you want...

 

I could tell you several stories about peole in the country who were ticketed. One was a farmer who was ticketed for having old/obsolete farm equipment. That was on a remote country dirt road. In two cases one either had to trespass, or fly over, to see the offending cars. One of those places, depending on weather and time of year, you had to park and walk in the rest of the way!

 

You can't see my home from any road, in any direction.

Anybody on my property came through my fence or a posted gate, is trespassing, and likely won't live to tell anybody else what they saw..