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How We Got Evicted! (Conclusion)
After receiving the eviction notice 3 years ago and visiting the zoning officer we didn't hear anything again from the zoning office for quite some time. Once my job solidified, we started looking at our property options. We decided to not build on our 61 acres on the plateau but buy a house with acreage nearer to Knoxville. We had trouble finding a place with a house we liked so in the spring of 2008 we bought the 30 acre tract on which we are currently building our house. In the fall of 2008, we started clearing trees for the road, house, and garden. In the summer of 2009 we found out the wife was pregnant so the wife changed the house plans. In late summer of 2009 we finished the house plans and started shopping for contractors.
In Sept. of 2009 we got a certified letter from the Knox County zoning office. This letter was similar to the first letter we had received 3 years earlier. It told us that we could not reside in the camper. This time we did nothing, buried our heads in the sand and hoped the problem would disappear. Within a month we got another certified letter from the zoning office. This letter gave us one week to move or we would be fined $200 per day. That got our attention so the wife went to see the zoning offer to see if we could get a little more time to move. The zoning officer extended the moving deadling until Jan. 1.
When the wife asked who complained, the zoning office replied that they got an anonymous call. Since Suspect #3, Paul, had sold his house, he probably did not make the second complaint. It is quite possible that he made the first complaint but did not complain again because his house had sold. Since it took 3 years to receive the second complaint, I'm guessing that the 2 complaints were made by different people. There are 2 houses near us that are currently up for sell and there is one new house nearby. Based on the timing, my greatest suspicion is that the owners of one of these 3 houses complained. We may never know.
So now we had to do something. Based on the delays in getting the house plans finished, there would be no way to pick a builder and get the roof on the house before the winter wet season started. I had said that I would not build in the winter and had told the wife we would wait until after winter to start building if the house plans did not get finished early enough.
Unfortunately, our hand was forced. Although we would be building our house in a different county, that county also banned people's living in RVs. They officially won't even let you live in an RV on your property while you are building your house. In order to get electricity turned on we needed a building permit. So we went ahead and started the house building project knowing we would have to fight winter weather.
We moved our camper onto the property in Dec. 2009, 3 weeks before the Knox county eviction deadline. We are now living on our property in the camper "incognito". We purposely moved the camper onto the property in after the house foundation inspection was competed. The county's inspection office is the same group that does the zoning so we wanted to delay having the inspector see the camper on the property as long as possible. The next required inspection is the framing inspection. We are just hoping that the inspector will not say anything about the camper and will "turn his head the other way" since we are obviously building and will not permanently reside in the camper. I spoke to a person who lives nearby whose house caught fire. He is living in a camper at his house while the house is being rebuilt. I would have to believe the inspectors know about his camper and have just ignored it.
Another significant reason that we want to live in the camper while building is theft. Our house is back in the woods out of sight of any other house. I have no doubt that if we were not living here that scoundrels would carry off anything that could be carried away. I have a friend who built his house 3 years ago. After his plumbing was installed, someone stole all his copper. His house is in a neighborhood in plain view of other occupied houses. If the county were to tell us we couldn't live in the camper, we would be put in a very tough spot. I believe a person has the right to protect their property and really hope the county does not attempt to prevent us from that right.
After receiving the eviction notice 3 years ago and visiting the zoning officer we didn't hear anything again from the zoning office for quite some time. Once my job solidified, we started looking at our property options. We decided to not build on our 61 acres on the plateau but buy a house with acreage nearer to Knoxville. We had trouble finding a place with a house we liked so in the spring of 2008 we bought the 30 acre tract on which we are currently building our house. In the fall of 2008, we started clearing trees for the road, house, and garden. In the summer of 2009 we found out the wife was pregnant so the wife changed the house plans. In late summer of 2009 we finished the house plans and started shopping for contractors.
In Sept. of 2009 we got a certified letter from the Knox County zoning office. This letter was similar to the first letter we had received 3 years earlier. It told us that we could not reside in the camper. This time we did nothing, buried our heads in the sand and hoped the problem would disappear. Within a month we got another certified letter from the zoning office. This letter gave us one week to move or we would be fined $200 per day. That got our attention so the wife went to see the zoning offer to see if we could get a little more time to move. The zoning officer extended the moving deadling until Jan. 1.
When the wife asked who complained, the zoning office replied that they got an anonymous call. Since Suspect #3, Paul, had sold his house, he probably did not make the second complaint. It is quite possible that he made the first complaint but did not complain again because his house had sold. Since it took 3 years to receive the second complaint, I'm guessing that the 2 complaints were made by different people. There are 2 houses near us that are currently up for sell and there is one new house nearby. Based on the timing, my greatest suspicion is that the owners of one of these 3 houses complained. We may never know.
So now we had to do something. Based on the delays in getting the house plans finished, there would be no way to pick a builder and get the roof on the house before the winter wet season started. I had said that I would not build in the winter and had told the wife we would wait until after winter to start building if the house plans did not get finished early enough.
Unfortunately, our hand was forced. Although we would be building our house in a different county, that county also banned people's living in RVs. They officially won't even let you live in an RV on your property while you are building your house. In order to get electricity turned on we needed a building permit. So we went ahead and started the house building project knowing we would have to fight winter weather.
We moved our camper onto the property in Dec. 2009, 3 weeks before the Knox county eviction deadline. We are now living on our property in the camper "incognito". We purposely moved the camper onto the property in after the house foundation inspection was competed. The county's inspection office is the same group that does the zoning so we wanted to delay having the inspector see the camper on the property as long as possible. The next required inspection is the framing inspection. We are just hoping that the inspector will not say anything about the camper and will "turn his head the other way" since we are obviously building and will not permanently reside in the camper. I spoke to a person who lives nearby whose house caught fire. He is living in a camper at his house while the house is being rebuilt. I would have to believe the inspectors know about his camper and have just ignored it.
Another significant reason that we want to live in the camper while building is theft. Our house is back in the woods out of sight of any other house. I have no doubt that if we were not living here that scoundrels would carry off anything that could be carried away. I have a friend who built his house 3 years ago. After his plumbing was installed, someone stole all his copper. His house is in a neighborhood in plain view of other occupied houses. If the county were to tell us we couldn't live in the camper, we would be put in a very tough spot. I believe a person has the right to protect their property and really hope the county does not attempt to prevent us from that right.
