Project truck storage: City at your Throat?

[prostreetC-10]

LEDDZEPP......Much better put than I and yet that was the message I was trying to convey. There is such a grey area where some just take it too far and basically create junk yards in front of their houses.

[RManson]

Well put leddzepp. I keep my car/truck/motorcycle jones outta sight, yet it's the next door neighbor who washes his BMW on the lawn. Really?!

[RManson]

Where in Long Beach?

[72LSK10]

Originally Posted by RManson

Where in Long Beach?

Upper West Side, a few blocks from Stephens Middle School.

[Gary's67]

I live in Lakewood California and have had my own experience with this, found all it takes is one nieghbor to ruin your day. About a year ago I was doing an engine swap on the old truck in the backyard, completely out of sight from the street. The nieghbor had to have looked over my block wall to see it. (we've had our issues before with this guy). But he called the city saying it was an eye sore. City man comes out and luckily gave me a warning saying I could be fined for working on my vehicle in my own back yard, crazy! I was givin a time frame of one month to get the truck on the road and had to contact the city to come out and sign off that the vehicle was road worthy when finished.
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[jeffahart]

Califronia does not want any old cars. They don't want any auto repair shops either. They want everyone to have a newer car and take it to the dealer for service. Or take the Bus(which is what they really want everyone to do, except themselves).

I usually only have on project at a time and keep things pretty clean and picked up and have not had any trouble. I pulled an engine and wheeled it into my garage. Who could gripe about that.

But, I have stopped the idea of doing a frame off resto because I would have to have frame in driveway. And I don't want the hassle. So I'm kind of stopped before I even start on how I really approach my projects. Minimal body work and no painting.

I really want to get out of Calif.

[RManson]

That may be true, except for this..

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,5690015.story

Seems they like old cars, so long as they make the state money...

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

LEDDZEPP......Much better put than I and yet that was the message I was trying to convey. There is such a grey area where some just take it too far and basically create junk yards in front of their houses.

After reading your post, I am inclined to say the same My wife and I have an agreement: I do not turn into Fred Sanford, and she does not turn into Imelda Marcos.

Originally Posted by RManson

Well put leddzepp. I keep my car/truck/motorcycle jones outta sight, yet it's the next door neighbor who washes his BMW on the lawn. Really?!

Ridiculous, isn't it?! Unfortunately, you can't control the neighbor factor...which is the root problem in most folks' cases it seems. At least he is watering his lawn

Originally Posted by jeffahart

Califronia does not want any old cars. They don't want any auto repair shops either. They want everyone to have a newer car and take it to the dealer for service. Or take the Bus(which is what they really want everyone to do, except themselves).

I usually only have on project at a time and keep things pretty clean and picked up and have not had any trouble. I pulled an engine and wheeled it into my garage. Who could gripe about that.

But, I have stopped the idea of doing a frame off resto because I would have to have frame in driveway. And I don't want the hassle. So I'm kind of stopped before I even start on how I really approach my projects. Minimal body work and no painting.

I really want to get out of Calif.

I agree with you...but look at the bright side. If you are required to keep your stuff in the garage out of sight, that lessens the chance of something being stolen. And that is a problem that exists no matter where you live.

This is a good thread...lots of good posts and opinions. Common sense is on the comeback

[dhaymaker]

Originally Posted by Boog

Listen to this. A hog farmer on his long time famiy owned land has to shut down his hog farm when the land across the road is developed and the new neighbors complain about the smell. He and his hogs were there long before the neighbors so he should be allowed to keep the hogs I would think. If I were to move in next to a sess pond could I complain and make the city shut it down? It's the same thing really..
There are idiots writing the laws in every state of the nation. Absolute idiots.

Originally Posted by prostreetC-10

LOL....ya'll are a bunch of true rednecks!! I know it's a touchy subject. I also know the city has to be careful or certain, somewhat nice neighborhoods would just turn to sheet in a hurry. I certainly wouldn't want to drive home each day and see a bunch of crap laying around everyones yards and driveways making the place look like Sanford and Sons.

Now before you go and get your panties in a bunch, I think it's perfectly fine that people do whatever they want to do as long as everyone is in agreement and you are playing by the city ordinace rules. I live in a neighborhood where you can't even park on the street in front of your house. You damn sure can't have non-running vehicles all over the place either. It's about property values and that's the way I want it. Heck....I don't even mow my own front lawn and I'm about as redneck as it gets. I chose that and people should be able to do what they want as long as it's not causings the neighborhood to become something that the people living there don't want. I'm trying to be careful with my words because there are good arguements on each side.

Boog hit on an interesting issue, and it's not limited to hogs! I have a pilots license and I used to spend a lot of money (putting that into the local economy) to go flying. Gotta have an airport to fly from. But, just like the hog farm, people decide to move in to new homes built around and existing, active airport and what happens? They start complaining about the airplane noise and want the airport closed. That, my friends, is BS!!

prostreetC-10 has a right to his opinion, as well. Don't really care if he states it in terms people like/dislike, it's still his opinion and he wasn't rude or overbearing about it. We each have a choice as to where we live and I guess you can move if you don't like how things are being done where you currently reside. The real problem is, it's just going to get worse. Nosy neighbors, government intervention, and everyone else deciding what we can or should be doing is a rea PITA. I try to keep my mess to a minimum, even though I live 30 miles out of town I live in a "development", we just don't have an HOA. But, like prostreetC-10, I don't want Sanford and Son living next door, either.

[daves72C10D]

Welcome to the United States of the Offended. Your rights a trumpped by any one that is offended.

[mikey531]

When I moved in with my girlfriend/now wife in the development there wasn't room for my truck and cars... so I read the zoning laws found out the lot was grandfathered and I could build within 12 1/2 feet of the side line. So I did. 36 X 40 with room for a lift in my center bay. I have almost finished the outside and then will start on the inside.

[skorpioskorpio]

Hey, there is places in Florida where it is illegal to park a pickup in your own driveway, any pickup.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by skorpioskorpio

Hey, there is places in Florida where it is illegal to park a pickup in your own driveway, any pickup.

Some HOA's around here have that kind of a rule as well. I think the theory is that if you drive a pickup you are too "low class" to live there.

Municipalities around here (Southern NJ) aren't too bad with ordinances and whatnot like is being mentioned in this thread. But HOA's can be crazy. I looked for quite a while to find a house I liked in the right location with no HOA. I refuse to have busy bodies telling me what color my fence has to be and whether or not I can park in front of my own house.

I have one nosy good-for-nothing neighbor across the street, but he and I have an agreement. Stay away from me and I won't break his bones. That treaty has been holding for 4 years now. My other neighbors are cool, 1 is a Chevelle guy and the other is a biker (as am I). His bike is louder than anything I own...LOL.

[jeffahart]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

Some HOA's around here have that kind of a rule as well. I think the theory is that if you drive a pickup you are too "low class" to live there.

.

I own a rental in a community where the rule is no work trucks. So it you have a pickup with signage you can be dinged by HOA not city. The guy that lives across from my rental is an HVAC man. He drives his company truck, been seeing it there for two years. There is another General Contractor up the street. I think if they started using their homes as (business)yards, with mixers, dump trucks and such, they would get a letter.

These types of rules are always used to pick and choose what they(city or HOA) deem as ugly or out of line. But there is always the one that crosses the line. I will admit, I don't want a dumptruck and trailer parked in front of my house.

Also, I'm a little territorial. If someont always has their car parked in front of my house I will not like it. I will begin parking there just to shut them out, especially if I don't like them. I know it's a city street. Occasional guests and such are fine, but someone else's stuff as a permanent fixture in front of my that is MY house makes me mad.

Starting to Rant!!!

bye

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by jeffahart

I own a rental in a community where the rule is no work trucks. So it you have a pickup with signage you can be dinged by HOA not city. The guy that lives across from my rental is an HVAC man. He drives his company truck, been seeing it there for two years. There is another General Contractor up the street. I think if they started using their homes as (business)yards, with mixers, dump trucks and such, they would get a letter.

These types of rules are always used to pick and choose what they(city or HOA) deem as ugly or out of line. But there is always the one that crosses the line. I will admit, I don't want a dumptruck and trailer parked in front of my house.

Also, I'm a little territorial. If someont always has their car parked in front of my house I will not like it. I will begin parking there just to shut them out, especially if I don't like them. I know it's a city street. Occasional guests and such are fine, but someone else's stuff as a permanent fixture in front of my that is MY house makes me mad.

Starting to Rant!!!

bye

I can agree with that. I don't want dump trucks or semi's parked in the development. But 2 of my neighbors are contractors and one works for the electric company, and I have no issue with their F-350's with signs on them. I guess that is just common sense.

I understand the territory thing. My neighbor across the street parks in front of my house all the time because you can only park on the one side. I like him, but its annoying all the same, especially when his driveway is empty.

[shawno72]

Here in Lodi as long as its in your driveway you are safe by park it on the street for 3 days and its gone. 1 day and its gone if you don't have current tags. Luckily for me I have a 15x40 foot driveway.
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[69GWC]

I guess crazy just goes both ways and the few normal people get caught in the middle.
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[domeier]

I can understand both sides here: If a guy has a project he keeps under a nice, tidy tarp on his driveway, that's one thing; However, if a guy (like my neighbor,) has a bunch of rolling junk heaps on the street that he keeps shuffling around to beat the parking police, not to mention a yard full of knee-high weeds and old cement mixers and such, that is a problem. There's no excuse for living like a pig and dropping your neighbors' property values through your own slovenliness.

There is no doubt the laws are getting ridiculous as regards what you can and can't store on your driveway, but they only came about because folks are fed up with the amateur junkyard dealers who allow their hoarding instinct to overcome common sense. I guess it's just the price we all have to pay for living in a city, (a city other than Oakland, of course,) that is at least attempting to keep itself in decent shape.

We don't have such laws here in SJ yet, but I expect the day will come. I personally could live without them... but then again, I'm not trying to sell the house right now with junkie down the street chasing away buyers. That guy is a jerk. He isn't helping anyone with his hoarding problem.

[50bomb]

Originally Posted by John Gilbert

I just got a letter from the city I live in telling me that anything I want to do with an old vehicle has to be done inside my garage only. This includes storage of parts and complete vehicles. It gets a lot uglier, but you guys get the picture.

I was wondering especially if you're a California resident if one of you guys has been running into this kind of stuff?

I was in meeting last week with Colby Martin at SEMA and there is a model for a statewide (any state) bill that would make it law vehicles only had to be out of normal public view.

There are some lucky states where the SEMA model is already law. Before they force everyone to scrap our good rust free California tin we need to get this model in place.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Yea your not the only one. When I had my 1950 buick I was on the driveway workin on the brakes and the city lady came up and said not to work on it but oNly in the garage. I was like BS. this is my house I will work on it here. THey sent me about 6 letters. I havent been bothered with my 67 chevy yet. My friend had his 47 chevy fleetline in my backyard and we workd on it and the city took pictures of us workin on it in my BACKYARD!! ITs a bunch of bs. I dont have a messy house. LEave us alone CITY! Here is an old picture of what they didnt like. My 63 impala,50 buick bend it. grandpa's 64 c10 63 belair next to c10 can barely see the white roof line,and my buddies 48 fleetline. My buddy also had a 47 flleetline that is in the backyard not shown in picture haha

[magwakeenercew2jh]

This issue is a vehicle (sorry about the pun) for an interesting discussion about how we all get along with
each other when we have to share the same space.

Some folks are respectful of what they would consider to the "quiet use" of adjoining property, even when
it keeps them from enjoying their own homes in a way they'd like.

Some figure, "Hey, this is my space and I can do what I want here". "If you don't like it, get the Hell out of my area!"

And, there are uncountable variations in between.

I think the common view of this should be whatever exists in what I'd call the "Community Standard".

If someone decides to buy a house in a neighborhood that they can see is a place that's been raising hogs for
twenty-five hundred years, or in which they can see before they make an offer that everyone is having beer in
each other's driveway while they all drain tranny fluid into the storm drain... to the tunes of Megadeath or
Johnny Paycheck, and then they start moaning about "eyesores" ? Or bark about, "a party down the street"?
Well, that person should be choked.

On the other hand, if someone moves into a butt-tight gated community and starts firing off the 572 before the
headers are installed, wha-da-ya-expect's gonna happen?

But in between the solution is the problem. "Community Standards" are a moveable feast.
And they are moved in so many ways by the dollar.

It's an easy call when one end or the other of this issue is broached. But we make too many laws to try to cover
a multitude of potentials. Then, we vest the authorities with the power to enforce laws that are so broad in scope
that they get to apply them in whatever way they determine.

And, guess what? They'll determine whether or not they want you to burn the stash of parts, or take all your tools
to the dump, based upon the pressure they are feeling, or that they want *you* to feel from the weight of the "badge".

If you live somewhere that your Daddy owns the bank and used to run track in highy school with Sheriff Applegate,
and the snoopy 'ol lady down the street called huis Deputy in the middle of the night about hearing you throw a beer can,
you'll probably be okay.

But if you live in an area that the real estate investors are trying to "gentrify" with the help of the Mayor's newly-
plumped campaign fund? And you didn't vote for the guy because he drives around in a Prius with a sign on it that says,
"Scrap All Gas Hogs". And you want to change your brake pads in your driveway on Saturday?
Ha! You're screwed.

So, regardless of WHERE we live, the best we can do is:

1) Use some common sense on how much of a PIA you are (one way or the
other);

2) Do all we can to keep stupid laws off of the books (one way or another);

3) Stay connected to the local enforcement guys.. one way or another ($$$);

-or-

4) Be prepared to keep moving...'Cause it'll keep happening (one way or
another).

[alsriv2]

Here in the Maryland county I live in, there are rules but not too bad. For backyard vehicles, all vehicles must be legally registered to be on the property at all. SO for my '69 Chevy truck, I got historic plates for it and even though the engine has been removed, I am legal. I have a close neighbor that ignores the rule and has quite a few late model junkers that do not qualify for historic plates. His yard looks like crap and I can clearly see his mess from my kitchen window. Complaints ot the county has not done anything to fix the problem either.

I guess everybody has unique problems.

Good luck to everyone!

[brad_man_72]

Your cars have to be in a garage...... put a garage door at the streett end of the driveway!

I'm LUCKY enough to have just built a custom home in a decent neighborhood. I have a 5 car drive in basement and she has a 3 car garage upstairs. I probably won't grow out of it for a month or 2. Her drive is ont the left, mine looks like a 7 hanging off of that retaining wall, you can't see my door from the street.
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[higXtech]

unrelated -- but some of you might run into this... Some HOA's have rules on the number of visible cars. The claim it's because it's an eyesore, but it's also a method to hinder multiple families from living in a single-family home, converting the garage into a living space, etc...

[brad_man_72]

Originally Posted by higXtech

unrelated -- but some of you might run into this... Some HOA's have rules on the number of visible cars. The claim it's because it's an eyesore, but it's also a method to hinder multiple families from living in a single-family home, converting the garage into a living space, etc...

Converting the garage into living space.... CONVERTING THE GARAGE. INTO LIVING SPACE!!! Drag them into the street and beat them!
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[JointTech]

this is a funny picture from my last HOA newsletter. This is not me but I see him around the neighborhood. Not sure if hes a board member.