I Won't Tell -- Do You Always Get a Required Permit?

[kco]

Yep.. as some of you may know.. earlier this year / late last year.. someone in my neighborhood engaged in a campaign to TRY to cause me trouble by calling every 2 weeks and reporting me to code enforcement saying I was starving and mistreating my animals.

literally making stuff up. saying no food or water when hay bales and water tanks are visible from the fence or road.

claiming starving.. and injured.

each 'anon' call in has to have an investigation.

after a few months of this i was on a first name basis with the investiator in my area and had her cell number and she mine, so she could let me know when I was reported. still had to do the song and dance and meet her out there for a farm inspection EACH time. never did find out who it was.. but the inspector said it was likely a neighbor since it happened so often. and I was in a closed commuity with no 'thru' road traffic.

the 'injured' horse is a 31yr old quarter that is missing an eye. ( removed at an equine hospital at many times cost of the value of the horse.. ) they get vet and farrier treatment every 6weeks.. go figure...

it was a deal where i was being harrassed.. and whoever was doing it was abusing the system.. and nobody but me really cared..

It is nice when public officials use their judgement. Your relationship reminds me of an incident a friend related that happened here 25 years ago. That person had a bit of trouble with a teenage neighbour (nothing serious) and the teenager took offence. The person had a few pot plants, for personal use only, in his garden. That is not uncommon in southern BC. This was an older, responsible adult and NOT one who sold pot to others. The teenager reported the fellow's pot to the RCMP. It was a much more closely-knit society then. The Mountie called the fellow to tell him there was a report he was growing pot, and to say he would be out the next morning to check it out. Of course he didn't find any pot plants.

 

[Soundguy]

my biggest beed was the large red tag they had to leav on my gate and fence saying I was in violation of animal cruelty regs.. each time a call in happened. If I couldn't get off work and drive across town right then to mee the inspector.. she had to tag my fence.. then make an appt to see me.. that and the loss of work time.

people need to be less in other people's business IMHO

 

[sodamo]

One reason for getting a permit is your neighbor's. Very, very common for your neighbor's to rat you out. I went to appeal my taxes to the board one time, the nasty old bat in front of me was upset about her assesment. So she proceeded to rat out 4 of her neighbor's, she had pics and measurements of additions and outbuildings they had built. Angry old ladies can be nasty.

Boy can they

A couple years before we moved from Ga, had an interesting development take place in our neighborhood.

One longtime neighbor decided to finally fix his almost falling down garage/shop. Basically, rebuilt it in place.

Another, fairly new neighbor who had significantly updated his house also decided to replace the rusted out sears shed with a well constructed, permanent shop.
For reasons unknown, his rear property line neighbor didn't like the idea and reported him to the city for setback violation once the building was up, but not finished.

As might be expected, the city inspector went to the wrong address, there was 1 property in between. Unfortunately, the long time neighbor had rebuilt his new wall over a foot and was violating his side yard by 6 inches. When finally inspected, the other neighbor's new shop was sited properly. Now of course, a violation had been served and the public hearing process underway. The report was the complaining neighbor had no idea of the mix up, only that his complaint was scheduled to be heard on such and such date and time. Of course, all the immediate same street neighbors showed up in favor of the violator and after 3 hearings was granted a variance for the 6 inches.

As luck would have it, the complaining neighbor had previously stiffed an abutting neighbor lady over a drainage issue years before, he had talked her into constructing a concrete ditch along her side yard, connecting his back to the street drain and then reneged paying his share. Old ladies don't forget!!!!! When word got out about the other two neighbors, she took action. She had long suspected he was cheating on his property taxes. An internet search revealed that he had been claiming homeowner exemptions on 2 properties in the county for at least 12 years. All appropriate documents were printed out and put in the mailbox of the newer neighbor who had done nothing wrong, he admitted to turning them over to the city. At the 2nd variance meeting a short conversation dropping the important details was conducted within earshot of certain city officials. Complaining neighbor did not show up to final variance hearing. Word on the street was the county wanted all the back taxes plus penalty.

NEVER tick off an old lady!!!

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[MistyBlue]

Always get required permits here. Why? Much easier than getting fined, tearing stuff out, having to rebuild again with new permits and then being on their radar forever after. Just not worth it to prove a point.

And I have reported a few non-permit violations in the past. I was a Realtor for a decade and what you see...gave me nightmares. I reported the non-permitted absolutely horrifying self-built septics without having had perc/hole or permits. Way to funnel your crap into the neighbors' wells. Ugh. It's amazing how many people think they can add or enlarge a septic system and/or leaching field without any knowledge of how one actually works, or what type of soils you have, where the water table is, where your neighbors' well is, where your OWN well is, etc.

My town is a tad tight on permits...any building over 10x10 requires a permit and a solid foundation. But there really isn't any other tax revenue in town, we don't even have a post office, LOL! But we can do run-ins as pole barns or use a semi's box trailer for storage, etc. And town hall gives permits easy and aren't overly picky as long as you observe set backs and wetlands (if you have wetlands on property)

 

[MossRoad]

wow boggen.. glad I don't live near you. you assume the worst about everybody and mind all their biusiness huh?

the tru scufflaws building a open air fusion reactor powerd by cow maneuer and red lightning.. they can be handled by casual code enforcement.

the guy erecting a lawnmower garage from a kit at lowes.. I'm not so concerned about him.

eh?
IMHO.. if everyone worried more about what was on their side of the fence.. EVERYTHING would be better.

Well, there's a rental house down the street from us and their dog ate the cap off of their well back in March. So, there is a 4" pipe open straight down to the aquifer with a dog tied to a leash that is tied to the well. I hope it doesn't crap down the pipe or drop a dead squirrell down there, as it could poison the entire neighborhood. So, do I call the health department or not? Been mental wrestling with that one for a few months. Now the renters are gone (married police officers, by the way) and the well is still open. They appeared to have left in a hurry, as there are still kids' toys and a nice gas grill in the yard, but no cars or signs of life for three weeks.

 

[boggen]

wow boggen.. glad I don't live near you. you assume the worst about everybody and mind all their biusiness huh?

the tru scufflaws building a open air fusion reactor powerd by cow maneuer and red lightning.. they can be handled by casual code enforcement.

the guy erecting a lawnmower garage from a kit at lowes.. I'm not so concerned about him.

eh?
IMHO.. if everyone worried more about what was on their side of the fence.. EVERYTHING would be better.

i honestly could care less what other folks do. but when it gets past stupid and becomes chronic. problem. that starts effecting me, or family or friends, then i put my foot down and do what i think will get problem corrected and keep working at it till problem is resolved.

sadly, things for this given single neighbor has ended up on my side of the fence and many others. way to many times. that has resulted in my previous post to sound, so ugly. *frowns* i wish i never had to deal with any of those issues so many times that never seemed to end. till finally i said enough was enough and dealt with it. still will most likely have to finish things out here in another year or two. when 5 year = no animals ends. and animals end back on my property. *frowns*

 

[lockhaven]

it depends on the town or township or county or state it is different all over

 

[Soundguy]

Well, there's a rental house down the street from us and their dog ate the cap off of their well back in March. So, there is a 4" pipe open straight down to the aquifer with a dog tied to a leash that is tied to the well. I hope it doesn't crap down the pipe or drop a dead squirrell down there, as it could poison the entire neighborhood. So, do I call the health department or not? Been mental wrestling with that one for a few months. Now the renters are gone (married police officers, by the way) and the well is still open. They appeared to have left in a hurry, as there are still kids' toys and a nice gas grill in the yard, but no cars or signs of life for three weeks.

public health is a little different that private ammoyance.

as was mentioned. if someone is doing something that more or less doesn't effect others.. why pry.. if he's building hte open air fusion maneuer reactor ( your uncapped well ).. then you can do something. and by do something.. I mena.. MAN up and go say hello and ask if you can help them cap that well!

had a joker here in our area that instead of going to talk to somebody about something.. he's just file a lawsuit!

if talking don't work.. THEN call CE.. but I gotta tell you. CE is not gonna cite another leo. blue shield will pop up so fast it's not funny...

 

[MossRoad]

open air fusion maneuer reactor

Ha! Good one!:laughing:

 

[300UGUY]

public health is a little different that private ammoyance.

as was mentioned. if someone is doing something that more or less doesn't effect others.. why pry.. if he's building hte open air fusion maneuer reactor ( your uncapped well ).. then you can do something. and by do something.. I mena.. MAN up and go say hello and ask if you can help them cap that well!

had a joker here in our area that instead of going to talk to somebody about something.. he's just file a lawsuit!

if talking don't work.. THEN call CE.. but I gotta tell you. CE is not gonna cite another leo. blue shield will pop up so fast it's not funny...

Sometimes folks just ain't gonna listen. I've never had to sue anybody, but I've come close, twice. Both times the mention of a lawyer basically reset the conversation in my favor.