Do I have any rightss against code enforcement from city ordinances?

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greymouser7

greymouser7

Vagrant Vagabond “Veni Vidi Vici”
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78002 down the road from Atascosa, Texas
Am facing fines from my project car. It is I the driveway (rolling chassis) and I have parts cars behind a stained fence with tarps on them

I looked at SEMA's website a while back and did not find anything.

I need help. I got until the 26th, the Aspen's motor is in the machine shop, am waiting.
 
Sound like someone has it out for you. I guess just about all of us are in violation of that code! good luck, MT
 
Well it seems if you go put tabs on it you'll be fine or just put the car in the garage.
 
The real problem are the ones that have junk yards and that is what the law try's to protect property owners from. Some officials might take it too far in trying to keep people from repairing their cars that might take awhile.

Hope you figure this out. The best thing would be a garage for the car and pick the parts you need off the other and send it on.

Even if you have to rent a space till you can get the engine back in.

The community where my mom lives states you cannot do auto repair. She sold the place that mom & dad bought together and she bought a different one in the same area. The new owner was there less than a year because they gave him a hard time when he would work on his car.

Guess you could always move............ LOL
 
Do I have any rightss against code enforcement from city ordinances?

Do I have any rightss against code enforcement from city ordinances?

Do I have any rightss against code enforcement from city ordinances?

I'll move when you quit FABO & Mopar altogether.

It's not like I am made of money and can just roll over & fix a problem in a snap.

I am asking for help, ideas, experience, not ill timed jokes, I have been building this car on pennies for years. It needs paint, a drive shaft, seat foam, new tires, and valve train.

I am too frustrated for humor-not upset with you, just need a path for solution

Inoperable, unregistered, nussance vehicle is the verbiage.
 
I don't even understand what you are quoting. I, myself, "me" am not subject to something called the "International Codes Council"

Are you saying that what-ever-city-county you live in actually has that code on the books?

If so, "it's time to move."
 
Do you own the house?
 
You might have a leg to stand on being "grandfathered". If you had said vehicle in drive before the "Code" was implemented, you might have a way out. Im no Lawyer tho. MT
 
On another angle-

Ask your neighbors (a LOT of them) if they've been cited.

You may have class action against an overzealous new employee.

That happened to me.

I had already taken pictures of a dozen other cars and "violations" in the neighborhood.

Turns out there were sixty "violations" written in a neighborhood of 120 houses.

All got thrown out. But....the county never told any of the "violators" that.

In the mean time, I had already moved my car to storage, had a "Carolina Carport" constructed, and moved the car back.
 
In my experience, you need to have license plates and insurance to keep "the dogs off".

Any car outside a garage must "be streetable"...

They will try to force you to put it in a garage or storage if you can't get it down off blocks with tires on it. Try to make it look as "streetable" as you can, but that's not a guarantee...

Or see if you can build one of those "canopy/tents" around the car to see if that would work, or put it under a cover.


That's why all of my cars that can't run are stored inside, and any that have wheels and full bodies stay outside with current license plates.


PS. Detroit code enforcement used to write them on me 5-6 at a time, sometimes being redundant, but claiming that they weren't...
 
Sounds like you have to fork out the cash for a storage unit or move or sell the car. Your violating an ordinance and you got busted so man up and deal with it. Don't whine about it and say "how come Kelly goosecock down the street didn't get cited but I did?" It sucks but it's going to get worse if you don't do anything about it. My best advice would be to move out to the country with no neighbors.
 
I had the same problem
I was doing what the city called "major vehicular repairs in a residential area"
(to be fair, I wasn't doing any repairs, I was upgrading from a 225 to a 360)

I called the number on the bottom of the letter and talked to the person in charge and I explained them
1 this is what I am doing
2 this is what is holding me up
3 this is when I expect to be done

he then replied by giving me an extension of the time to get it done and added 2 weeks to the date I guestimated (all of which I needed by the way)




my point is, talking to the right person in a polite tone might be the best way out of this


if that doesn't come back as you hope you can try to get a "portable carport" and put it over the car
 
As krazykuda said, I'd try to make it look as streetable as possible. Cheap used tires, something like that. I'm not sure of the ordinances where you live, but you could try to put it under a canopy. If you've got a backyard you could maybe move it back there and throw a tarp on it.

You've seen my car, I'm still surprised no one has complained. I keep it under a cover at all times when I'm not working on it just in case.

Sorry about the bad luck man, hope you can get something sorted out.
 
doogievlg said:
Sounds like you have to fork out the cash for a storage unit or move or sell the car. Your violating an ordinance and you got busted so man up and deal with it. Don't whine about it and say "how come Kelly goosecock down the street didn't get cited but I did?" It sucks but it's going to get worse if you don't do anything about it. My best advice would be to move out to the country with no neighbors.
Click to expand...

Man up? If I am in a disagreement with someone, I am not going to bend over for their will-that is NOT manning up as I understand it-perhaps you can explain? I did live out in the country-was burglarized, one hour and 35 minutes later the police show, and don't care-they say the chief of police was burglarized, said they were powerless- it's why I moved into the outer neighborhood where old project cars were in abundance more than every other house. Not sure of your logic. I am not risking my family out in the country where the police don't bother responding to 911 calls.
 
diymirage said:
I had the same problem
I was doing what the city called "major vehicular repairs in a residential area"
(to be fair, I wasn't doing any repairs, I was upgrading from a 225 to a 360)

I called the number on the bottom of the letter and talked to the person in charge and I explained them
1 this is what I am doing
2 this is what is holding me up
3 this is when I expect to be done

he then replied by giving me an extension of the time to get it done and added 2 weeks to the date I guestimated (all of which I needed by the way)




my point is, talking to the right person in a polite tone might be the best way out of this


if that doesn't come back as you hope you can try to get a "portable carport" and put it over the car
Click to expand...

Yeah I am going to try that. But am going to show some progress first. The time would be plenty save money, and the fact that it rainsc every afternoon here for as much as a few hours.

They strongly discourage the building of car ports-it's not IAW the zoning.
 
greymouser7 said:
Man up? If I am in a disagreement with someone, I am not going to bend over for their will-that is NOT manning up as I understand it-perhaps you can explain? I did live out in the country-was burglarized, one hour and 35 minutes later the police show, and don't care-they say the chief of police was burglarized, said they were powerless- it's why I moved into the outer neighborhood where old project cars were in abundance more than every other house. Not sure of your logic. I am not risking my family out in the country where the police don't bother responding to 911 calls.
Click to expand...

This isn't a disagreement with someone. This is a violation of an ordinance. There is a rule sayying not to do something and you did it and got caught. It doesn't get more black and white then that. I guess you can claim ignorance but laws like that are on the books in most areas in the United States so I doubt that will hold up in court. I didn't mean to offend you I just have had a lot of people trying to get out of things they did latley. Good luck and hopefully your town gets a new chief of police.
 
The ordinance is ambiguously written-I'll dig it up for you later, A brand new car can be cited as a nussance vehicle the way that it is written- just as much at their interpretation as vagrancy, wreck less driving...

I can insure it, put a tag on it, car cover or garage and meet the black-and-white wickets of the law, and still get cited-at their discretion.
 
302.8 Motor vehicles. Except as provided for in other regulations, no inoperative or unlicensed motor vehicle shall be parked, kept or stored on any premises, and no vehicle shall at any time be in a state of major disassembly, disrepair, or in the process of being stripped or dismantled. Painting of vehicles is prohibited unless conducted inside an approved spray booth.

Exception: A vehicle of any type is permitted to undergo major overhaul, including body work, provided that such work is performed inside a structure or similarly enclosed area designed and approved for such purposes.


Seems pretty clear. Very strict regulation. Not sure how a brand new operable car could be cited unless it was not licensed. Here in CA you can license a vehicle as non operable. I take it that is not an option in the state you live.
 
I think a lot of these are complaint driven by neighbors. Could be somebody that has some a burr about you for some unrelated reason, and decided to file a complaint on your cars. For instance trying to sell a house can be challenging if your neighbor always has a bunch of unworking cars and parts in plain view. Once a city department gets a complaint they are required to act on it.

I like diymirage's advice on this. I bet the local city guy might be able tell you what kind of minimum things you can do to meet the requirement. But..., if that does not work out you may have to put it in storage for short awhile and let the heat cool down!
 
I've always found it far less offensive to neighbors, and far more agreeable to the law, and local ordinances to keep the project in the garage, even if that meant leaving my driver outside.

Even if you're right, and someone reports you, you still have to deal with the hassle of clearing up the confusion. Just be a good neighbor. Period.
 
Code enforcement is a real PIA.

Unless there is a loophole somewhere, you need to be in compliance. Anyway to roll it behind a fence
 
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