California/Legal Issues/No Projects?

[kombreeze]

Well this evening my buddy and I scored big time. Free 64 hood wich is great since thats one of the few pieces thats needed to complete his truck. To make a long story short my good friend was in an accident about a year ago wich he totaled his 64 truck. Only thing salvagable was the cab.....pretty much and motor. Well we just started piecing the donor frame we got about a month ago and we've been working on it consistantly. Well today he got a letter from the citiy that this was his final warning and that his truck will be towed off his property. Pretty much they can come and take a vehicle that they beleive to me non operable at will. Now have any of you come across this or ever heard of that. Now i've seen cars towed from the city street that have been sitting but now from a persons driveway. That put a dampner on the project because we're about a month from done.....and that's pushing it with full time jobs, kids, gym, wifey, etc......I'm amazed on how city goverment can impose themselves on something that is so American as Apple Pie. RESTORING a cool truck that's worth something...what's next them coming to my house and taking away my projects (68 firebird or 68 stepside), I don't want a new car it's not me...not that I can't afford one it's not my style or taste....classics all the way

[68caliRat]

A couple of cities near me do that to. Is the truck registered/ non-oped? I think he could keep it if he shows intent and it is legaly registered and insured. I think a trip to your city hall is in order..

[69-350]

what can the city do if you place it in your property, locked up; say, behind a locked fence/gate?

[manimal]

I tradeda 1973 k10 to a kid I know a few years ago. He had the truck stored over at a friend of mine's house. The CODE ENFORCER went to his house when he wasn't home,went into his back yard(gated) opened up the gate and had a tow truck remove the k10 and sent it to the junk yard! THAT's BULLF****inSH^T!!! I told that code enforcer he better never show up at my house trying to take stuff.

[kwmech]

My brother is a code enforcement officer and what happened is bull---. There has to be several warnings before something like that would have to happen. they cannot just arbitrarily tresspass on your property and steal stuff because they feel like it. I'd have filed an auto theft report and had the code enf. officer arrested. I also think there has to be numerous complaints also

[bobthecop]

In the one horse town I moved out of, I had the same problem. I had a neighbor complain about the "junk" truck in my drive way. Well, it was, but I was piecing together a '69 for my son, and the donor was a '70. Well they really complained when I parked the '63 in front of their house on the street. The code enforcement officer came out and told me that if they did not run they had to be parked out of sight. This included my '72 that had all paint and body work done, no drive train. So I sold the '63, junked the '70, put my '72 in the back yard and put the '69 in the garage except to work on it. They were gonna tow my trucks. I now live on 5 acres, no more foolish city codes. I should've kept the '63, it looked like a$$ but it was tagged, insured and ran, not well, but it would move, and kept it parked in front of the house. Oh well I guess they don't want anyone starting their own junk yard in a residential area.

[AO50]

Non-op or registered if they see it not being driven they will do crap like that. I had to put up a fence/gate with those plastic strips to keep the 65 el camino out of the city's view. I don't remember the word they used for it at the time, but pretty much they were saying my vehicle was trash and it was making the city of Fresno look bad. I can only have 1 project because of stupid code enforcers, the 70 c10 is a dd right now. Also the reason I had to sell my 64 Impala, makes me wish I lived in the fresno county area.

[72Levi]

It is BS. But if the city passes an ordinance about non-functioning/non-running vehicles in your driveway they can remove them but only after so many warnings etc... They cannot remove it if it is behind your gate inside your garage/property backyard. It cannot be parked in front of your house or in your driveway. Imagine that NOT in your "driveway" unbelievable! I now live on 3.5 acres, private/secluded and 1 mile away from the city limits Sometimes city govt can do almost anything they want to do... see "Eminent Domain"

[Goodguytrucks]

That would be one way of getting right of the junk trucks that a person doesn't want......just leave them on the street. It would save you alot of time taking them to the wreckers.

[jimmydean]

We got a notice about 6 months ago that a new city law was passed that no non-op vehicles can be viewable from the street. So a lot of people bought the cheap covers they sell at Wal-mart because it encloses the vehicle. So now you just have a cheap cover viewable from the street.

[Dano69c10]

Where I live, the car/truck has to be out of sight. It must be parked on pavement. So behind a gate or in a garage is OK. It also has to be hidden from any complaining neighbors. I had my non-running, non-registered '78 crewcab 1 ton parked on a dirt driveway in front of the house and it was towed from my property without any warning. That is when I became educated about the whole process.

[gouldie]

i know in some upper class neighborhoods you're not even allowed to have a truck with a company logo on it parked outside. these laws/regulations are to protect the "image" of a community. the problem is that some people like to complain about everything. i just cant understand why people just can't let you have fun with your project when it has no effect on their life at all besides them being able to see a ****ty truck become a nice truck.

[kevncar]

Funny, I just got a "Notice of Violation" on Monday. I'm in Atwater, about an hour north of Fresno. I have a 2-car garage that I just pulled my 72 chevelle out of and put down the side of my house. I've got a 12'-0 wide gate and the whole side of my house has brick pavers, I could probablly get 3 maybe 4 cars back there.

I just pulled the body off my 67 and put the chassis in the garage and left the body in the driveway in front of my gate. Hasn't been there but about a month. Basically the officer told me that I just needed to get it behind the gate. "Out of site from the street" is what he told me. I was worried though because that side of my house is right next to a park and there is nothing between me and the park but a chain linked fence. So we'll see if I still get complaints from the park side or not!?!?!

What pisses me off is that this was all generated from a neighbor's complaint. They called their councilman, who called the cheif of police, who asked one of his officers to come by and take a look. Why can't the chikcensh@# neighbor come down and talk to me instead of wasting 3 of our city official's time. I understand that not everybody is a car guy like me and that, while I think my truck looks cool sitting on it's nuts, some may not like it. If they came down and talked to me I would move it. Now I HAVE to move it IMMEDIATELY or else!

Can't hardly wait for my 5 acres. But that's pretty hard to afford in Cali.

[WorkinLonghorn]

In California it's up to each city to set the law on this. In L.A. I had to help a lady fix up her 75 GMC 4x4 because an inspecter was going to come by and see that it could be started and moved under it's own power.
>>The Cal law states "22660. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a city, county, or city and county may adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement and removal, as public nuisances, of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts thereof from private or public property, and for the recovery, pursuant to Section 25845 or 38773.5 of the Government Code, or assumption by the local authority, of costs of administration and the removal."

[ghackett1]

There are neighborhoods in the city where I live that will not allow a pickup truck or cargo van to be outside on a driveway even if they do not have company logos!! People that cannot fit them in there garage have to sell their cars and buy ones that conform to the community restrictions! Can you beleive that! Needless to say if it was not for a job that I need I'd be out of here in a minute.

[Liz]

yet another reason why I left Long Island years ago..

[LockDoc]

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The bad part about doing this is that many places will charge any costs of removing it to your property taxes. If you don't own the property they will send you a bill. You WON'T like the amount charged.....

LockDoc

Originally Posted by Goodguytrucks

That would be one way of getting right of the junk trucks that a person doesn't want......just leave them on the street. It would save you alot of time taking them to the wreckers.

[woodridge]

We are fortunate where we live, in the country and no zoning. If you don't like what has become popular with many cities and towns, click on the link below, it is the SEMA SAN website and then click your state and see what is going or has gone on as far as state legislation.
http://www.semasan.com/main/main.asp...ANcom/HomePage

For local gov's, take action, see your councilperson/elder, educate them and see if you can't get the ordinances ammended to allow you to keep your projects. You might even take a copy of some of the SAN information to show what other areas are doing to accomodate the hobby.

[CrashEd]

I live just one block out of a small town in central Il. I have 5 pickups in my driveway 2 of them parts trucks. My freind lives 2 blocks away so he is in the city thay messed with him so much that he sold his mud truck. Thay wernt happy thay started on his car hauling trailer now he can't even park it at his house. This is a town of 7000 people is see them driving by my house now ill probably be told i cant have my trucks in the county next.

[PanelDeland]

I had a warning once on a truck i was replacing the motor in.They required it to be state inspected or tagged,so I tagged it.The code enforcement officer came and had it towed.I called the city and complained.The enforcement officer came back and had my truck brought back.I requested he have his supervisor call me.I also called him every name I could think of and a few I invented.He was about 6.6 and 300 or so lbs.I really tried to get him to hit me,but was unsuccessful.Evidently he did not want his boss to know he had messed up(after all his only job was to go look and he didn't look at the tag he noticed me on)so I never got a call from his supervisor.So to city hall I go and make a written complaint.I didn't get a response but I never had another code enforcement problem in the 8 years I lived there and there was always at least one vehicle that didn't fit within code enforcement.I'm sure the lady across the street complained but they didn't bother me.Of course I wasn't in the land of the Kaliban or Governator.

[69-350]

bunch of tree-huggin pinko commies, is what it is. People have a problem, even minor, and go crying to mr. police officer, and can't man up anymore. If it's your private property, they shouldn't be able to touch you, period.

Eminent Domain, defined, "is the inherent power of the state to seize for a supposedly public reason, a citizen's private property. expropriate private property, or rights in private property, without the owner's consent, either for its own use or by delegation of the taking power to third parties who will devote it to "public uses", the most common examples being public utilities, highways, or railroads."

i.e., in layman's terms, the government can take your property IF and ONLY IF taking it is deemed necessary for public good IF and ONLY IF they give you a fair market value for your property. (most common with building of highways, and the likes. Sometimes it has been abused, and used for stuff like malls, that is not inheritly and directly good for the greater public)

So going upon your property without warning, and removing your property without your consent, for something that is not for the general good of the public, and not paying you for it, is TRESSPASSING, and THEFT [AUTO or not], amongst possible other charges and crimes.

Therefor, legally speaking, the city could possibly remove your property (that's sort of in a gray area, legally), but they must notify you, ask your consent, warn you first and one or several times, and then remove it only if it is not locked up; otherwise, the city will be breaking their own laws, along with state and/or federal laws.

Ironic, isn't it? I tell you, I am so glad I live up here, and out of city limits (by about 1000ft) My house looks like a junkyard, and none of the neighbors complain (if their's doesn't look worse, they're either jealous, or they just help me out when I need it)

[magsnubby]

Originally Posted by AO50

...but pretty much they were saying my vehicle was trash and it was making the city of Fresno look bad. I can only have 1 project because of stupid code enforcers...

Me thinks Bubba should have his code enforcers worry more about the trash blowing out of city garbage trucks while driving down the freeway, dumb butt trash truck drivers dumping half your trash bin on the sidewalk, the graffitti, the crappy weed filled mediuns...but i guess the city couldn't collect any money from that...

As far as the code enforcers go...well i guess i should let that one go before my blood pressure goes up about 30 points.

[HeavyD]

Wow..now I understand why so many cool vehicles end up at the wrecking yards in Cali. Just about every issue of Car Craft shows pics of yards from around LA (I am assuming) and I just sit there drooling. What a waste.

[kevncar]

The wife just called me at work to let me know that we got a ceritifed letter from the city telling me that if I don't move ym truck in 10 days it will be towed. I called them yesterday morning (the day after I got the notice) and asked the officer what my options were. I told him that I would move it this weekend. I think this is just the next formal step in the process. I sure hope this doesn't turn into one of these other stories you guys are talking about.

[skokie]

Guess I have been lucky with mine. Its in the driveway with a grey cover on it. Got the core support, inner fenders, pullies,exhaust manifolds, etc in the garage. Probably get started on the core support piece tonight and the radiator in. This way in case this happens to me I can move it around