fuzzbutt
Pittsburgh
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My wife tells me i'm beating a dead horse. It's one of those things where you get all stressed out over it. Spend a lot of money and time fighting it and in the end, they win.
I will be shopping for my pink flamingos this weekend. If I can get a bunch of refrigerator boxes, I'm going to make a cardboard motorhome and part it in it's spot as a symbol.
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driveby
Vancouver BC Canada
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yeah but it doesn't mean that the democratic process is gone. btw I say democratic process but what I really mean Special Interest Group  Squeaky wheel and all that. I got involved in my kid's school and ended up at the District level. It astounds me what a small group of people's opinion can do to shape the direction. So I've decided that since the rest of the area is apathetic it might as well be *my* opinion. Tough darts on them if they choose not to participate.
The OP could do the same.
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D.R.Bain
Michigan
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southpark wrote:magicbus wrote:D.R.Bain wrote:..I can put up the largest antenna tower allowed by law, and I don't need the permission of the township or a homeowners association. This is true about anything that is permitted by code. You only need "permission" when you are doing something not approved by regulation!
Dave
It seems you don't understand his point. The point is that everything under the sun is often prohibited when you live in a suburb (even worse in urban areas), even on your own property. I live on over an acre but I can't own four dogs or one turtle. I can't put a gate or fence within 25' of the sidewalk, I can't flatten out a sloped area on my property, nor dump fill dirt without a permit. The list goes on and on. We were recently house shopping and were told we would need to get approval to plant flowers, or even a single plant.
The poster you're not understanding is pointing out that the only way to escape onerous regulation may be to move to a rural area where only state, or perhaps, county laws and regulations are in place, and one has more liberty to use his or her property to their liking because these laws don't descend to the picayune level of local and HOA regs which try to control everything you may want to do with your land. If you did understand this than maybe you were being a smart-___ by stating the obvious (with an exclamation point no less).
I may live in a rural area, but I still have to obey the township's ordinances. I need to own 10 acres to have a horse, but once I have 10 acres, I can have up to 10 horses.
I guess what I am saying is you don't have to move far to get away from all that garbage. I only live 10 miles from the nearest hospital, or Big chain stores.
I do get his point, when I lived in the city I was once ticketed for parking my car in my own front yard. Between the public sidewalk and my porch. The car was my daily driver, it neither blocked the sidewalk nor the neighbor on either side's view of traffic when they pulled out. Since the front yard was only the size of a parking space, After I paid my $5.00 fine I went to the building permits office to see about paving the front yard for parking and what it took to do so. It was they that showed me the ordinance that I was ticketed under was tacked onto an ordinance that said if someone parked on my property that I could have them ticketed and towed. The very begining of the ordinance stated that the homeowner must initiate the complaint. I got my $5.00 back and moved.
Dan, 2007 Damon Daybreak 3270
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Daveinet
il
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D.R.Bain wrote:I guess what I am saying is you don't have to move far to get away from all that garbage. I only live 10 miles from the nearest hospital, or Big chain stores. This is seldom true. In areas near big cities, suburban sprawl goes for miles and miles. I can go 40 miles in any direction and can not get away from it. Property is so valuable that affordable housing with a large lot does not exist. The problem is to live within 30 miles of my work, an acre lot is in the millions.
Where one's personal property rights are violated is when there is no alternative. Developers create HOA to drive up the selling price, which means that virtually every neighborhood within any reasonable distance has an HOA. The concept of "you knew going in" doesn't cut it when there is NO ALTERNATIVE. You have to live where the work is and where the work is has HOAs. The best I could find was where the HOA was dormant for the past 15 years.
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chockwald
Ontario, CA
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driveby wrote:instead of getting all your neighbors up in arms, call the guy who wrote the ticket and ask who the person who complained. Bet it was somebody close. Then find out from them why they complained. Maybe there is a simple easy way for you to keep the MH on the driveway and they won't complain again. or maybe your neighbor hates the idea of you having one then you're toast provided the law is set up right and evenly enforced. Then you have to get on whatever body that makes the law and get it changed
The local PD will more than likely NOT give you the name and address of the person who complained. They are afraid there will be an escalating confrontation, plus there are privacy laws which probably apply, also. Here in Ontario, California the Ontario P.D. will NOT give any information on the complainant. My HOA CC&R's prohibit me storing my motorhome on my property, or even on the street in front of my house. City ordinances prohibit me from parking it in front of my home for more than 3 consecutive days. For period of 6 months last year I was getting visits by the local parking enforcement officer due to a neighbor who was complaining, but wouldn't tell me who it was. My other neighbors who have RV's too, and have them in front of their homes periodically to work on them, or to prepare for a trip where have the same problem. We figured out who it was and just politely let them know we knew they were complaining and that we would be watching them like hawks and reporting them every time we even suspected they were in violation of any city ordinance, too. While the person denied it, suddenly we stopped getting visits from the parking enforcement officer.
I used to get letters every month from my HOA alleging I was storing my motorhome on my property, which wasn't true. I do have a storage space at another location. Each time I got a letter I was advised they would be holding a hearing on such and such a date, and I needed to appear. I advised them that I was not storing my motorhome at my home, that I was not going to appear, and that it would be there at least once, to twice per month when I was going out of town, returning from a trip, and to work on it occasionally, and gave them the exact dates for a 6 month period. When I got a 4th letter I sent them a copy of my prior communication and advised them I would be appearing with my attorney at their next hearing date to complain about their harrassment, and waste of HOA funds in doing so. I have not gotten a letter since.
The picture below my signature was taken in on the street in front of my home.
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sowego
Nebraska
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Joined: 03/14/2006
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It truely can be tricky to park an RV in a private driveway, on the street in front of a property or even beside the house in some neighborhoods. And that holds true for many cities all over the country. Sometimes they are old laws that need to be updated, just grumpy neighbors, and egads those dreaded HOA's! I'd find out for sure if it's a neigborhood HOH, a city ordinance, or a grumpy neigbor. With the number of all types of RV's in this country I think it's about time some of those laws be altered.
I do believe in many cases an HOA is a great thing but in some cases they go over the top with some restricts that are totally unreasonable. In one neighborhood I heard about they didn't even want a garage door left open for more than long enough to drive a vehicle in or out of it! Our HOA was a great thing and helped keep the community watch program active.
The maddening thing is a buyer does not always know all the restrictions/ordinances before purchases a property even though they are supposed to be informed. I guess RV owners have to be especially alert to check all these things out. However if one has lived in a city for many years then bought an RV...who has really gone out and thought all that through.
In the neighborhood we have moved from all RVs had to be parked on a pad in the backyard out of sight from the street, however if such a thing is so unsightly what about the neighbors beside and behind them, especiallly in an area where wooden privacy fences are also against the local HOH rules. Luckily our neighbors never complained about our rig parked on gravel beside the house hidden by trees and huge pampas grass.
By all means check out who filed the complaint. I agree I bet many of your neighbors should have also been cited. I could be it's time to petition the city council or HOA to see what can be done.
We all know what this is all about. For some reason people are worried someone will park some old wreck of some type of RV in the driveway and let it rot. In many cases these days the RV is worth more than the house! Do ya think a million dollar bus parked in the driveway looks tacky! Someone mentioned to me when this subject came up before that it could be a case of "neighbor envy"!
Good luck. I hope you find a peaceful solution to your problem. If you can't --- hey -- I'd move!
* This post was
edited 09/05/08 12:09pm by sowego *
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lockdoc
Mn
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fuzzbutt wrote:My wife tells me i'm beating a dead horse. It's one of those things where you get all stressed out over it. Spend a lot of money and time fighting it and in the end, they win.
I will be shopping for my pink flamingos this weekend. If I can get a bunch of refrigerator boxes, I'm going to make a cardboard motorhome and part it in it's spot as a symbol.
If you have a 72 hour rule why not bring it back after leaving overnight at the storage lot? Leave it by your home for the 72 hours and go back and forth like this. Do this enough times and the neighbor will either complain again or confront you and give you an avenue for possible communication.
I am glad that I live where I do and have my 36' 5er in my own yard...slides out and ready for me whenever I choose to go sit in it or hook up and go!
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fuzzbutt
Pittsburgh
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Gatorrob, thanks for the private ear beating about my whining. I will try and keep it to a minimum at the risk of offending you further.
Judging from the 8 pages of posts, this just might be a bigger problem than you can comprehend. Oops, I forgot what a genius you are. Never mind......
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mikegt4
sw ohio
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Joined: 10/20/2006
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This is exactly why I moved to acreage out in the country.
When I lived in a suburb I was once awaken at 6 am by a cop telling me to move my sailboat from my driveway. I had just gotten home from a trip (with the boat) to my brother's house in Florida. There was about 10" of fresh snow on the ground when I arrived home around midnight and I couldn't get the boat to the back of the house where it is usually (and legally) parked. Living in the country means that now I can park it anywhere I want. The problem is that the same people who champion HOAs and similar ordinances also move to the country and bring their ideology with them. My experience is that they tend to be retired from a career of being the boss of other people and continue that mindset even after their life of "authority" is over.
2 quick examples:
My mother's "seniors only" condo association was run by a retired "manager" who weilded his "authority" to whatever was to his advantage including having each parking space in front of the building narrowed and the "extra" space added to his reserved spot.
A few years after I moved to the country a newly retired "supervisior" moved in next door. Nice enough guy but after a while he started coming over with suggestions of how I should park my vehicles, cut my grass, trim my trees and what color to paint my house. He went berserk when a dog walked down his driveway with muddy paws, of course his dog was free to do his business on my property. He tried to get a petition going to start a HOA but every one around here resides here to get away from that type of lifestyle. He finally moved back to a "restricted community" in town.
I seems that the OP's problem started when a neighbor wanted to sell his house and move away. A house has a better chance of selling if their are no "eyesores" to be seen. Chances are that prospective buyers are not going to be RV'ers or boaters that appreciate, or want to add their own "eyesores". Granted, if he had come over and asked for the OP's cooperation in helping to achieve a quick sale this whole situation may not have happened. Maybe after he is gone the MH can quietly come back. If indeed most of the houses have a boat, RV, etc. on the property this may be a good time for reminding the neighbors that they too are in violation of the law and it's time to ban together and get the law changed.
Pink flamingos are nice but some grass seed producing a somewhat different shade of green than his current lawn, discreetly spread in a pattern that yields certain words arranged to be legible from his front door yet appearing to be nothing more than less than perfect landscaping from the street, does have it's advantages. A gift that keeps on giving.
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Daveinet
il
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You know every has come up with ideas for fun to pull on the neighbor, but evidently if the guy is a jerk, you want him to sell his house as quickly as possible. The sooner he goes away the better.
Incidentally, when I moved into my current neighborhood, I had no intention of buying an RV, but as particularly attracted to the fact that there were RVs in the neighborhood, along with motorcycles, ATVs and a few street rods in progress. I just feel much more at home not living near snobs. RVs and ATVs says to me this is a family neighborhood, where families play together. Families that play together means a much lower crime rate. The zoning boards and HOAs need to update their thinking. I would much rather contend with kids running dirt bikes up and down the road, than a bunch of teens just hanging around on the corner with nothing to do. Just like the concept of night basket ball leagues keeps kids out of trouble, so does motorsports.
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