Man banned from his own land

Sorry if this has already been discussed, I did not see it yet on this forum. I cannot believe this.

 

well he bought land within the city limits and the city ordinances require, electric, water and sewer hook up. All he has to do is hook them up, pass the inspections and then unhook them. Its in the Huntsville, AL city ordnance for safe occupancy.

If he was outside of the city limits the county building code kicks in.

I'm not saying its right but It is the law in Huntsville and he bought the land within the city limits. He could have engaged the inspectors in asking for an exception as an experimental building type but basically he did what he wanted and then said the heck with the regulations.

Safe occupancy codes are in affect all across the USA, you cant get away from them. Its either City or County regulated. You have to render unto Cesar that which is Cesar's .... know the rules so that you know where you can break them .....

 

@Ganado
He is fighting city ordinances and I bet zoning also. Off grid inside city limits wasn't a wise choice.

Probably, the cost of bringing in power, water, and potentially sewer will be out of their reach.

 

I agree.

 

This seems to be happening fairly often.
A young woman wanted to put a tiny house inside Philadelphia city limits. She was willing to have power, sewer and water put in. She ran into no trailers and a minimum square footage requirement.

 

The town I live in is pretty podunk but like a lot of little bitty podunk villages it fancies itself grander than its reality. There are a number of abandoned lots about town that the city owns now, and we asked about buying a group of lots that made up basically an entire block, both sides, and ran on the edge of town so the neighbors comprised of a cotton field on one side and a bunch of cows on another, and an abandoned trailer across the street. We wanted to tear down the old, caved in houses on it, fence it all in, put a large metal shop on it, and then plant the rest of it in pecan trees. We were told no. We could not put a shop on it. We had to build a house on it first and the house had to be on the same lot as the shop, not a house on one lot and the shop on the next.

We told them they could continue to enjoy mowing those lots. That was 5 years ago. City is still mowing them and hoping the old houses on them don't catch on fire. No one is gonna buy one lot and clean it up for their own house, not when it'd be surrounded by firetraps on all sides. What it boils down to is the city fixed it so you can't build on any lot in town unless there's a house on it first.... property taxes, yanno. You'd think they'd realize taxes on empty lots and one huge shop plus a water bill would be better than no taxes and having to pay to maintain it, but that's how it works.

 

I own land in an unnamed city in Washington. There are a few trees that need to be taken down for the safety of the neighbors. Nope. I have to submit a report from an arborist first. Wait What?

 

@ditch witch
As Forrest Gump said so eloquently: Stupid is as stupid does. As they are willing to leave an eyesore, the town has a major case of stupid.
We have land in the mountains and it took us well over a year to find what we wanted. One place had an overgrown abandoned single wide complete with mice, rats and snakes. No campers allowed.

 

I live quite snuggly in my shack in the mountains without power lines or sewer hooked up... And no whinny neighbours ..

 

^That's my goal down the road. Good on you.

 

@Dont
We have a septic which makes matters easier than a lug-a-loo. There is a well also, plus a creek and a spring.
The camper can run on electricity or solar charged batteries.

Very few neighbors also. A dry camping family is about 3/8 of a mile and a year round family about a mile away.

 

Interesting thing is the difference between the stated high sounding goals of building and zoning codes and what seems to be the real goals. We had to have rules to control growth and the new rules allow you to build $400,000 houses on a lot that should never be built upon, but not a $40,000 trailer on a perfect lot. All about taxes and revenue for the town and schools. Controlling growth allows for "cluster" housing in order to "preserve" the rural nature of the town and build 20 houses on 5 acres, one standard lot, and "preserve" 50 acres of swamp that was not suitable for 1 legal lot. Then create a "home owners" group to control the sewer, water, snow plowing, roads, etc and 5 years later pay to replace all the substandard utilities the builder installed. Main purpose of building codes is to be certain that the town can maximize revenue and that the banks have an asset that can be sold if needed to pay off debts. That being said, it is difficult to fight city hall and best to go into the housing thing with an open mind and expect to pay lip service to the rules, connect the electricity but put solar in and minimize your use, have a deep well and use your shallow one, etc. It is now nearly impossible in Southern New Hampshire to build a house, or buy one, without either a $150,000 cash or a mortgage. That keeps the revenue up and the rifraf out.

 

Well, I had my first run-in with this sort of situation. Remember, I am very naïve to all the rules and regs as most of them were not here when I left the states years ago so... So, I wanted to put a lean-too up next to my garage to store some wood, wheelbarrow, etc. get them out of the garage and make some room. I live rural zone area of the county, not a city. First, I found out that I need a permit which shocked me because I wasn't going to live in it, no power, no water, etc. just a roof. Then the second shoe fell, and was told the permit would cost $400! As if that wasn't enough and to add insult to injury, I was told that I could only come out 6 feet from my garage because the garage walls weren't high enough. "Look, I understand about snow loads but were going to use steel girders and..." "Sorry, sir, those are the rules." I looked at my wife and said, "And, this is why I wanted to move to Alaska..." And, walked out without the permit.

I swear if Hillary gets elected I am either moving to Alaska or back to Central Asia. It really pisses me off because I own this property, not the bank, and I have worked all my life to get to this point and yet they will not leave me in peace and must control me.

 

Yep..... my dad is a deacon in the church and does not use foul language. He's also a licensed engineer in five states.
I've seen him get so mad at Zoning and Permit Department to start swearing at them like a sailor.
In city, for an 8 by 12 metal shed they wanted a poured concrete floor with 3-foot Footers all the way around.
He said no, first hard freeze it'll blow the middle of the floor out, I'm doing a 4-inch floating slab. ( they went back and forth for about an hour) and he was told " if you wanted a variance you would have to get your plans signed off on by an engineer"

He lost it....."I AM AN ENGINEER, YOU F@#KING IDIOT!! JUST LIKE IT SAYS ON ALL THE F@#KING PAPERWORK.!! OPEN YOUR D@MN EYES AND READ IT!!! (they gave him a variance).....

 

I like BTPost's brother. Taking direct action must run in the family

 

I can understand Zoning... I have seen high dollar housing sites devalued by a $40,000.00 trailer being placed nearby... I have seen houses built on land that won't perk... I have seen folks place heavy industry into a neighborhood because there was no zoning... Zoning has it's place in all cities... I do not claim that all zoning laws are equitable but that zoning is necessary to protect rights of home owners...