Kicked out of my own driveway!

[nnero]

Im glad to hear everything turned out ok. Its always nice when being polite works to your advantage.

 

[frodobaggins]

Now send the man a polite thank you.

 

[Crash_AF]

Hooray for sane officials... Pretty much the same response I got from my local zoning official. A calm rational response got a calm rational answer which is what's supposed to happen.

Later,
Joe

 

[stumps]

I won the battle!

Wonderful! It's nice when the system works.

-Chuck

 

[atankersdad]

Thanks for fighting the fight. Now you need to park it directly infront of the nasty neighbors house over the Christmas holidays. That way you can give back al little cheer and Christmas spirt to them. It should make their Christmas...Any members live close to him who has a spare truck they can park behind his???

 

[Yohan]

CONGRATS, BUT BE ADVISED:

Now that you have won, it would pay to be vigilant when the town board meets and the small-minded neighbors or busy-bodies try to change or add an ordnance that would make you and your truck an easy target in the future!

If opposition is bad, you might promote our hobby positively with local parades or Boy Scouts, fundraisers, etc. Just a suggestion, of course that's up to you! If someone tried to change the local ord., you could find yourself a lone voice in the wilderness! Run for the office on the town board and stamp out the unConstitutional zoning BS! Or make proposals that every yard is required to have a military vehicle parked in it. Boy, would they ever howl!

Good job on the win!

 

[m37_power]

congrats on the win!

 

[stumps]

Thanks for fighting the fight. Now you need to park it directly infront of the nasty neighbors house over the Christmas holidays. That way you can give back al little cheer and Christmas spirt to them. It should make their Christmas...Any members live close to him who has a spare truck they can park behind his???

Fun as that would be, a wise man said once that it isn't a good idea to poke a hornet's nest.

When people are mad, and made to feel impotent, and you choose to rub their faces in it (or something that rhythms with "it"), they very often return the favor by doing something bold and truly mean.

They are your neighbors, and like it or not, you are going to have to live with them.... or move.

-Chuck

 

[rizzo]

My neighbors hate me... The old lady two houses down didn't waste any time when I brought my 818 home. It was in the driveway for less than 12 hours when she asked my girlfriend what I had that big green ugly truck for. When it stayed there for more than 2 weeks, she called code enforcement and said I had a junk big truck in the yard. When the head inspector came by, I invited him for a ride around the block (he declined) and stated that since it was a complete truck, it wasn't junk and therefore there was no violation.

When my 816 came home, he got another call about a truck over 14k lbs being parked on the curb. *same type of ordinance as the OPs* and once I explained that by Colorado Revised Statutes, the definition of my large military vehicle not being used in commerce was an RV, and therefore exempt from the clause. I showed him copies of the applicable statutes that I had printed off of the internet, and he agreed that there was no violation and sent the busybody down the street a letter telling her to quit wasting his time.

Call the code enforcement/zoning officer and request a meeting to discuss the citation. Explain that the vehicle is basically a large pickup truck and is not being used for commercial purposes but is a historic hobby vehicle. If that doesn't work, request a meeting with his supervisor. Beyond that is court, and you might want to retain an attorney at that point.

I would NOT move the vehicle as that will send the message that you are admitting that you are in the wrong. I went so far as to put a piece of posterboard in the windshield of my trucks that said in big letters "I am an RV" with the statute stapled underneath and left the 816 parked in the middle of my front yard for a month.

Later,
Joe

I had a similar experience. The code enforcement officer said it had to be licensed. I told him it was an off road vehicle and it didn't need to be registered (remember a vehicle is defined by its use and that is how I use that vehicle). He came back two weeks later and said he had called the state police. he told them about me and the case and the trooper told them I call down there all the time making sure I am following all the Trucking rules properly and that yes, I was correct. He said the case was closed. I have not gotten any complaints since. I must point out that the code enforcement office was not a wildly motivated power hungry individual. That probably helped.

I'm glad you stood up for your rights and ours.

 

[davidkroberts]

well crack open a beer and call some friends..... i just finished brewing 6 gallons of beer and i promise if i was closer I would load up the M715 and head up but thats a long trip at 50 miles per hour.

 

[jdmcgowen]

CONGRATS, BUT BE ADVISED:

Now that you have won, it would pay to be vigilant when the town board meets and the small-minded neighbors or busy-bodies try to change or add an ordnance that would make you and your truck an easy target in the future!

I'm not sure but I believe he would be grandfathered in.

 

[jdmcgowen]

Now I would paint my house cammo! When they ask what you think you're doing? Just tell them you're trying to hide your deuce for your neighbors.

 

[Buckeye2000]

Glad to hear it worked out and thumbs up for your well-reasoned letter to the official. There are hundreds of thousands of regulations at every level of government, and officials often don't know the parameters of each. This guy was reasonable and willing to hear you out, which is great.

On another note, I love living in the country and am thankful for neighbors who enjoy trucks

 

[byrdo]

The hornets nest.

Yeah, as much as I am reveling the win. I think I will try to be the better man here and not rub it in the neighbors face. I do think an MV party and convoy would be fun. But, not for the purpose of pissing off the neighbor. If I can ever get a reasonable amount for my current house. My wife and I do intend to move to a much more rural location. I did send a polite thank you letter to "The Man". As far as future promotion and protection of MV enthusiasts, I will continue to engage in this hobby positively and if I can keep all the neighborhood kids and their parents on my side I should be O.K.. I do intend to run for State Congress next year as well. I'll see if I can do something to fix this God awful mess we call a government. Oh yeah, if I win I am going to do the job for half pay and donate the other half back to my district. If you know anybody in Michigans 98th district tell them to vote Byrd-O in 2010.

J. Longtain

 

[mdl06g]

I appreciate your comments and those of the folks who advised against any sort of retaliation... rubbing it in their faces only makes everyone miserable and gives those nosy neighbors something to complain about if they wanted to get the ordinance changed.

The better man actively works to de-escalate the conflict.

If you could do a couple of overtly "neighborly good deeds" using that great big truck... hauling furniture or firewood or helping out folks when the weather is terrible... they might begin to see your truck as an asset to the neighborhood, not a detriment.

MDL

 

[byrdo]

Indeed.

I appreciate your comments and those of the folks who advised against any sort of retaliation... rubbing it in their faces only makes everyone miserable and gives those nosy neighbors something to complain about if they wanted to get the ordinance changed.

The better man actively works to de-escalate the conflict.

If you could do a couple of overtly "neighborly good deeds" using that great big truck... hauling furniture or firewood or helping out folks when the weather is terrible... they might begin to see your truck as an asset to the neighborhood, not a detriment.

MDL

Indeed. I never though of that. I believe I can find a great deal of things that I can help my fellow man using that big beautiful piece of American Machinery!

Thanks for the idea.

 

[nofearnohope]

I have found that sometimes the code enforcement people just drive randomly around town, which is how they spotted my truck and promptly issued me a warning to remove my truck because it was "junk." I promptly called the code enforcement individual and set up an immediate meeting at my house, in which I proved that the vehicle started and ran just fine. They dropped the "junk" status, but did advise me that anything rated over 1 ton could not be parked on the street, no matter what classification it had. I moved my truck into my driveway and have not heard anything since.

 

[airmech3839]

I checked the county ordances here and found that they even call out MV's as exempt along with fire trucks. I have yet to have a problem with my neighbors. Most have kids that love to come over and play and hang with my kids..... There is a couple of "commercial" trucks in the neighborhood and even a buisness run out of a house that has box trucks....which is illegal.... but I am not the kind that throws the first punch....but I do stockpile ammo if you know what I mean!!

 

[rmgill]

Byrdo, I'm glad the Code Enforcement Administrator saw the light. The ones I have weren't so sagacious. They construed that ANY large vehicle was a Commercial Vehicle and that was the same "business vehicle" which was the legal term which was the restricted class of vehicles for my Building Zone.

At this point, I'm waiting on the county's appeal (they lost at the first court level) to be denied or granted and then we see what the Appeal's court judge says (DeKalb Superior Court). It would all be fine and dandy were it not for the amount of money I've paid for the court costs.

 

[Crazyguypa]

Ryan once you win at the superior court level you need to have your legal expenses paid for. So far it sounds like the court is on your side and they are out of line. I'm sure the superior court would agree.