Paint my car in the Garage, Got cited, any ideas

Well guys I have been cited for painting a car in my garage. Been working on this car for 5 years, and is the only car that has been painted here for 14 years.

See the attached.

The code they are using basically says you cannot seal your driveway, paint your house, fertilize your lawn, as you might cause disconfort .

Ideas? There will eventially laws like this that will effect all of us that work on their own cars.

The person that complained knows the town supervisor, members of the zoning
board, the code inspectors. The same person that got a variance to build
within 23 feet of the road when set back is 45 feet. Has a fence that
exceeds code and has been inspected twice and has been passed. The same
person that has called the cops three times before this. Twice today one for the smell and once because I had my outside lights on.


Anyone know a very very good lawyer, I mean really good as I would like to fight rather than pay the fine. I am willing to pay big dollars ($2500 to $5000) here to win.

Fine 100 to 250 and/or 15 days.

 

That happened to my dad many years ago, what he did is write the local polititians and told them he's not a voting man but could be, and it went away?

 

man that blows sounds like something CA would do. I'd try to get your prick of a neighbor fined too.

 

pay the fine and stop painting. what do you think a lawyer will do for $5000.00 other than shrink your bank account?

 

pay the fine and next time close the door

 

You'll spend $5 grand to fight a $100-$250 ticket?

Pick your battles, friend........

I understand, it's the principal that's involved here, but I think you need to look at the big picture. You obviously live in a residential area and your neighbor has the inside track to the folks who do code enforcement, your only choices as I see it is to disprove the validity of the claim (which won't be possible if you were't using water based paint) or buck up and either paint when he's on vacation or asleep or something.

$5K would go a long ways towards having your car painted at a shop where it's legal to do so.....

Yes, it's your house and you should have the right to do whatever you want in it, but it's also a neighborhood, and when what you're doing impacts the quality of life for others, you've got a problem. Especially if you have a busy body neighbor who has the code enforcers in his back pocket.

Good luck, let us know what happens, OK?

 

You're fucked... Take it from me, there is rarely much you can do when the instigator of such situations is deeply entrenched in the social fabric of the local law enforcement and justice system. You think the judges aren't buddies with the codes inspector, police officers, and your neighbor? Spend the 5k on paint booth rental instead of a lawyer.

 

I'm not a lawyer but I think I can get you off !! Just send me the 5k !!! Now you can slam me if you want but I don't quite understand people like you. Just pay the fine and go on down the road as you have to remember " YOU CAN'T FIGHT CITY HALL" !! And quit doing stupid shit in your garage at home !! >>>>. Oh yeah the next time you want to start a thread start one that's worth a shit cause I don't think this one will last long !!! >>>>.

 

Pay the fine, cover your ass. Maybe in six months the neighbor could have a fire in the night.

 

Pay the fine and count it as a lesson learned........with his kind of clout you ain't gonna win this fight.

I paint mine at home but I don't have neighbors like him.........hell mine come over to help.

 

A fire in the night!? Get real. What kind of advice is that?

 

I felt fortuanate enough to get away with painting my last car outside, and no one complaining in the neighborhood. Well, I do live on a dead end, which didnt hurt. I would also paint on sunday morning, early when everyone was away.

I was also fortunate that the paint job came out so good.

This next one, I will try and rent a paint booth.

 

Its gonna be hard to win that fight. I have a neighbor who is friendly with some city officials and calls the cops on my all the time, telling them I run a motorcycle chop shop out of my garage. I have had the police there quite a few times and had to provide paper work for everything on my property, not just the bikes, even my daily driven Tahoe. They told me its being done because the neighbor doesnt like the noise the motorcycles make or the fact I am using power tools. This continued until another neighbor needed me to put shocks in his softtail. He also works for the town, when I told him I couldnt work on his bike with out the cops coming and asking for paper work, the visits from the police have stopped. Its all who you know my man! Just pay the fine and shut the door next time. I use to love to work with the garage door open, now its always shut so these assholes do not know what I am doing in there and cant call on me.

 

Excuse me. Don't hide your feelings, tell me what you really think. Actually you can fight city hall. In fact to be an American you should be willing to fight city hall.

I think all Americans should have to watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

I'm sorry, I guess you got me mad when you said "one that's worth a shit cause "

I think that it would have been more appropate to say "PAY THE FINE STUPIT"

I gues I will pay the fine.

 

i would tell them you'll pay the ticket when your nieghbor is in compliance, being that hes the one complaining

 

Explain to us how what you were doing was legal.
After reading your citation I'd like to know what makes you think otherwise.
Sorry about being the "devil's advocate", but it's a legitimate question.

 

Paying the fine a few times is cheaper than having someone else paint your car.

Close the door and paint at night.

I would start a campaign to complain about his fence. Calls to every politican wanting to know the reason for his obsence voilation of the setback other than "he has a friend at city hall" should cause some grief.

 

Stupit post.

 

It looks like you may have some loop holes with the house painting and driveway sealing. I guess I actually faught my problem but through another route. The painting gets funny though. I know they nailed a few body shops around here for not being zoned to paint and the neighbors would call because of the smell. You may be opening a can of worms with fighting it. Its a tough call.

 

id pay the fine and put my energys into getting even with the douch bag

 

Exactly why I have an A/C unit in my detached garage...I keep the door closed, the windows covered with blinds...no one needs to know what I do in there.

R-

 

Do what I did: move somewhere far away from neighbors. They are ALL assholes. Distance is the key to success. The more, the better.

 

You're gonna lose this one. I wouldn't make too many waves unless you want to wake up the EPA too. They like big fines also.

 

dont they have rental booths in ny? i know here we can rent on for like 100 to 150 bucks!

 

run for local goverment, don't hold this issue up as your reason for running, start going to every meeting and intruduce yourself around, be friendly, if they see your not some crazy wingnut then you may get the fine waved. i dont know the rules or how local goverment works in your area but it doesnt cost you much to ry this approach.

 

Guess I should be happy that all working with my garage door open ever gets me is neighbors that want to come over and BS!

 

Gross and expensive unless you're REALLY good. Gross!




The fine is still cheaper than renting a booth.

 

That sucks, it seems like every neighborhood has some a-hole that has nothing better to do then get into peoples business. At least you got the car painted, and you saved a bunch of $$$ by doing it yourself.

 

Unfortunately you are IMO in a losing situation. IF you do win this one, you will still be in their sights for other violations. Ordnances are there for a reason, unequal enforcement is a fact of life. If you violate the law, you have the penalties to deal with. And you could be in for more with the county health department, the state environmental division, etc. It may be cheaper to pay the fine and let it go. Been there, done that, over road grading and water runoff into my yard from the public street.

After getting a city councilperson to "help" fix the problem, (poorly I might add) I got a visit from the Ordnance Officer a year later citing me for illegal landscaping in the right of way. Guess who blew the whistle on me, the councilperson did. I found this out as the complaint was sealed, even though it is supposed to be public information who called in the violation.

After six months of city council, review board, dpw opinion, city legal staff I was able to keep the landscaping (split rail fence) in place by signing a agreement that I would remove it if ordered within thirty days of notice.

We later sold the house, seven years later. We were later cited, AFTER the house ownership was transferred for another violation, no address numbers visible from the street. I called them the day after I got the notice and informed them that I no longer owned it, or lived there, and had not for several weeks.

The person on the phone at the city then asked (for real) if I would contacdt the people that owned the house and told them that they needed to put a number on the house. I said "let me think about this, uh, no" and hung up on her.

 

Buy a house out of town and rent your out to a bunch of Hooligans.