City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

[jay_merrill]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

This sort of stuff is exactly why I live in an unincorporated portion of my Parish. I have two boats in my front yard at the moment and an outboard motor hanging from a tree. The good news is that no one cares. That's probably because of the two neighbors that I have, one has a dump truck parked next to his house and the other has two roosters and about 14 hens running around. When they aren't pecking for bugs, they can often be found under his motorhome or his boat.

To each his own, but I couldn't live in a place where I have to ask permission to have a couple of boats in my yard.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Sorry if I missed it in your response Eric...

How about building a pole barn to put all your stuff in?

Yah, I realize the current law "prohibits" you from working on the boats within city limits. But, if code enforcement is "complaint driven" nobody can complain about what happens inside your pole barn, as they can't even see ya, eh?

 

[NetDoc]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

So much for our right to pursue happiness! I would challenge a number of definitions such as "minor repairs". What is considered minor? An oil change, a tune up or even replacing a water pump? Are these repairs listed? Is it defined by "24 hours"? Then, divide your work into manageable increments. You can be quite creative, as long as your individual repairs last less than 24 hours. "Are you still working on that engine?" "Oh no! I finished that job yesterday! Today I am working on another part of the engine." It's not that you have to think outside of the box, as much as you have to finally see that the box is a man made myth.

A good friend of mine had a similar problem with his HOA in Central Florida. Putting a "For Sale" sign on his damaged boat was all he needed to do to store it in sight of the road. The HOA tried to trick him and tried to buy his boat... they were not prepared for an unusually high asking price. Of course, he cited sentimental value.

 

[halfmoa]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

A good friend of mine had a similar problem with his HOA in Central Florida. Putting a "For Sale" sign on his damaged boat was all he needed to do to store it in sight of the road. The HOA tried to trick him and tried to buy his boat... they were not prepared for an unusually high asking price. Of course, he cited sentimental value.

That's the most sensibile idea I've read on here unless you've got a money tree and you can just pack up and move into the country...
One of our area departments started a strict code enforcement in an effort to clean up the city (read: generate revenue) as suggested by a third party company. They call it "Operation City Pride" but the other departments as well as some of their officers call it "Operation Screw the Tax Payers".

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

"Cavert Emptor" - Buyer beware.

If you plan on buying anything you should dot the I's and cross the T's. Reminds me of when I was buying land and building houses to sell. Was looking at a piece of land to build for myself since I was retiring. It was one of them HOA's which I did not know at first, well there were restrictions, had to get approval of what color I could paint the house, type of fence, no clothes line, type of roof shingle color etc:. Of course I did not buy it.

Use to run my carpentry contracting business out of my garage, today that can not be done because of city ordinances. A friend of mine is complaining that his neighbors garden and chickens are to close to his property line. The world has difinitly changed.

 

[skargo]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Yep, grew up in the city. I also invest in the city and run my business there, but it sure is nice to get home, in the woods, where I can';t see the neighbors, and can do what I want.

 

[CaptainKickback]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

I store my project boat in a storage yard for $148/mo. Many yards don't let you work on your boat, so you'd ha e to find one that does. Cheaper than a lawyer!

 

[erikgreen]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Quick note in reply to what's been posted since my long, long post above. I can't put up a pole barn, it's specifically not allowed in city code. I even thought until recently that I wasn't allowed a shed, since that's what code enforcement told me in 2007... they said any "accessory structures" have to be built permanently, the same materials and construction as the house, IE cement slab and standard framing. They specifically said no sheds (even though I knew my neighbors have them).

In reading through the code this year, I found out as long as the shed is 120 square feet or less and abides by the total count of accessory structures (2) and total square footage (half the house) then I can put up a metal, plastic, wood, or whatever shed. I'll be putting in a 10x12 next summer I think.

As far as "habitual offender"... if by that you mean "guy who likes to purchase and work on boats in the privacy of his yard" then color me habitual.

Pics coming.

Erik

 

[halfmoa]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

In reading through the code this year, I found out as long as the shed is 120 square feet or less and abides by the total count of accessory structures (2) and total square footage (half the house) then I can put up a metal, plastic, wood, or whatever shed. I'll be putting in a 10x12 next summer I think.

Better build it 9.5X11.5 lest you be a quarter of a square foot over on your dimensions.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Okay, here's my picture post(s) as promised.

A couple things about these pics: First, the boards you see piled up near the house are from this weekend's work, specifically yesterday's, clean out of part of my basement. They're mostly gone by the time you read this, and will be completely gone by tomorrow night. Same thing for the yellow strap on the ground by the garage and the few bits of trash by the wood pile/garbage can house.

The camera I used for this has a wide angle lens, which distorts pics just a little, but lets you see a lot. Sorry for getting my hand in the pic so much too. If you click through to photobucket you can see a lot more detail in these. I'm planning on going through the yard with a fine tooth comb just to make sure there's nothing the inspectors will call out as a problem, other that the stuff we disagree on, in the next 9 days.

You can't tell because of the snow, but I just finished landscaping last month. About 2/3 of the back yard is bare dirt with tire tracks for the moment, and although I've created a new berm/hill in the back corner of the yard (to the left of the cedar tree) I haven't finished shaping it yet... that'll have to wait until spring weather. In any case, the city isn't complaining about that at least at the moment.

Here's the view of my house from across the road, as requested. You can see my dented old truck and my honda civic in it. The 28 foot boat is in front of the truck, and the thing in front of the civic is my engine hoist:

Here's a pic from the middle of the street, provided for an example of the drive-by view:

And here's one from the middle of my driveway, a view no one but me should be able to see legally:

Here are my trailers... the one on the right is for the 28 footer and is currently missing fenders due to an accident (a railroad tie tipped over on it and twisted them). The hoist is a home built trailerable unit. The hitch is clamp on and not attached at the moment. The boat trailer is licensed legally, the city just wants me to put my name on the registration. The hoist I'm working with the state to license, but the city says it's "commercial equipment" that I'm not allowed to have.

As long as we're here, this is a pic of the hull of the 22 footer that I've rebuilt. The upper half of the hull and top cap were molded from scratch in projects detailed elsewhere on this board - you can still see which parts are new in these two pics. The interior structure was completely replaced with epoxy and plywood instead of the waterlogged poly and foam that was there. I can't wait to finish her... if I'm allowed to keep her, of course.

Half the hull has been painted with white tinted epoxy on the top and black (graphite) on the bottom. The black will stay, it's meant to be a tough bottom coating. The white epoxy will be used as primer, so it'll be sanded and wet sanded to form the final surface.

Turning to the right, here's a pic of my Bayliner. The damage to the hull is from a collision with a wing dam, so it's about a 2 foot by 2 foot section on each side of the bow I'd need to replace. If I was allowed to work on it, that is. It's not a simple project, but it's well within my skills I think. There's a little damage to the starboard hull side you can see aft here, from scraping against the dam. That plus the snapped off pulpit are the only damage. The stringers are dry (tested and drilled) and the interior is dry if a bit musty. I pulled out the engine and removed the sterndrive to reseal it, all else is still installed.

I'm not sure if this new forum software allows 6 pics or what, so I'll end here and start another post shortly....

 

[ngt]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

That's not nearly as bad as I was picturing it. I think that's garbage. I was picturing someone with big broken boats way out in the front yard in pieces. That's pretty far tucked back there and not bad looking at all. That's stupid.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Okay, more pics.

Here's the view of my back yard looking past the 22 footer. I've got an area near the garage dug out down to 8 inches, I'll be dumping 7 yards of sand in there and compacting it down on top of landscape fabric to form a surface I can either pave or use for stuff I don't want to do on the grass. That's why it looks like a depression there.

You can also see the hole I dug for my pond, which will go in next summer, in front of the new berm in the back corner of the yard. I'm going to plant some shrubs on top of that berm, it'll add some interest to the yard. Also I need another tree.

Again, the stuff at the bottom of the pic is junk I cleaned out of the basement yesterday plus a few bits from the yard I searched out, it got covered with snow last night and is probably gone by the time you read this.

Taking a few more steps forward, here's the view straight back along the garage side toward the back fence (south). The garage needs one of its siding boards replaced (actually the house needs a bit of siding work and paint too). The city has said nothing about either of those things.

Walking forward to the center of the 22 foot hull, I turned left and took this pic. Here's my wood pile, which is against my trash can house/shed (required by the city). Next to that is the hole for my egress window... I ran out of money in the middle of my basement refurb project, and had to stop. I took precautions to ensure proper drainage, and I intend to finish the project as soon as the ground thaws. Again, the city has no problem with this. The wood bench to the right is my "garden" bench, it's positioned where it is for safety reasons. The items by my back door were lawn furniture heading to the basement, that's gone already.


The boat bow next to the air conditioner looks like junk to many people, and I admit it's a matter of taste. It's stored there because it's going into the pond as the center piece for a fountain next spring. The water will cascade off the bow kinda like a boat on plane. The inspectors of course want it gone... it's okay to have butt ugly shiny balls on pedestals and garden gnomes, but if you're different you're wrong I guess.

That's a strip of the house's old color near the roof line. The old owner had a corrugated steel awning over the patio that looked very ghetto. I took it down last year and haven't painted over it yet. Again, no complaint from the city. The wire there is the cable TV line, which I don't use. I guess they figured it hung over the awning, so no need to tack it down. Thanks, Comcast.

Here's the view looking forward toward my boats from the back yard. You can see a bit more of the rough areas plus the fact that the 22 footer has a sterndrive hole open, but again that's the crux of the disagreement. I think just because they're not ready to go on the water in 5 minutes doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to keep 'em.

Finally, just so you guys have some idea of what the inspectors are ignoring because "no one has complained" about it, I stuck my camera over the fence and took a pic of my neighbor's (to the west) back yard. The inspectors walk past it to check and see if my firewood has bark on it, among other things.

I haven't complained about this because I don't think it's right to do so. I don't have to see it, so it doesn't bother me.

Erik

 

[erikgreen]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Better build it 9.5X11.5 lest you be a quarter of a square foot over on your dimensions.

I'm so very tempted to build it with an unusual floor plan, like a figure 8 (two overlapping circles) just to see if the inspectors know enough math to figure out the square footage

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Erik
Will they let you renovate your existing garage to a slightly larger or higher 'RV' style? If so that would probably swallow a project pretty easily based on the current square footage size it appears to be?...maybe bump up the length or width by a foot or two?
All Good
BP

 

[bigdee]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

The sad truth of the matter is the city wants to protect property values because they use YOUR property as collateral for bond loans......whenever people vote for a bond issue they are putting their homes up for collateral! Also,if property value goes down so does tax revenue. I moved out of the city limits years ago but now some of those ordinances are county wide.

 

[Lodge Creek Kent]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Not as bad as I pictured it either. I would love to have that engine hoist. Good luck but remember that song...."I fought the law and the........"

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

Erik, I think someone probably complained on your home because you have multiple projects going on at one time. It is fair to say that if a homeowner were to look at the projects that are not completed, they could assume that they will never get finished.

The burm in the back yard is probably also a violation becuase it is changing the natural drainage of the yard. You pond I am guessing will also raise some eyebrows because they draw misquitos and unwanted critters. These are all reasons why someone may have complained on you.

The boats would surely be less of an issue if they were on trailers. There is nothing that says a boat has to have a motor to be usable. Throw a set of paddles in her.

You should report the neighbors mess simply because it will draw unwanted critters to the neighborhood. Also should report every other violation you see. Because the one that called on you, probably unknown to them, has violations also.

The city community as a whole is what the city is going to worry about, and they are forced to take action when someone complains, but really have no obligation until someone complains. I would like to see the yard without the snow covering.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

IMO the city is doing a money grab, they want the fines.

 

[DaNinja]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

This neighbor wouldn't have complained, Erik.

I have a guy in my Missouri neighborhood that has two old cuddys sitting in view in his backyard. The one with the good hull is on a trailer. The one that's donating a motor was pushed off on the ground. They have been there, uncovered, since 2006.

 

[rivermouse]

Re: City outlawed me owning boats or working on them (MN, USA)

After seeing how big your yard is I see you have plenty of room for several more boats....I cant believe that if you had everything moved back a little and covered that any law would be a problem. You need more to really give the neighbors something to look at. Cover everything with a bright tarp with your personal graffiti panted on it....Things like "MYOB",,. Someone near you is the problem. Find out who and then give them some long slow paybacks....gez