Any suggestions on a property issue?

Gunner Asch · 2013-05-21T23:11:57+00:00

My house..and the empty lot next door. I am in negotiations with the owner to purchase the empty lot. However...it would appear that in 2011 I pissed off a fellow down the street over a dog issue..that my dog wasnt even involved in. So he made a complaint with the county. I was notified by the inspector of it in 2011..and told to keep it cleaned up etc and nothing more was said. Suddenly..on May 10..I get a 7 day warning from the county. New lady inspector..who has little empathy. She claims that cargo containers are a "no no" here in the unencorporated part of the county (dispite them being all over the place) . So I had 7 days to pull it out. So I mowed, cleaned the lot again, removed a boat and a trailer and put it as the photos show. She said I was "illegally dumping"..despite having the owners permission. So this morning..she shows up with 2 deputies and advises me that I have until 2pm Wed afternoon (24 hrs) to clean the lot off else Id be cited for "illegally dumping" and the county would clean off the lot. Im scrambling to find a place to put the cargo container...but the forklift is still down, Ive got ZERO money to move it or to fix the forklift. I called and left a message with the supervisor and one with her that Im working on it..but need 30 days. Now what are my options? California of course. In a dying area where there are more empty lots with for sale then Carter has pills. The last photo is of a typical lot in the area. Gunner

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rangerssuck 13 years ago

In the event that Gunner really has me killfiled, I'd appreciate it if some one would pass this along.

Being a pack rat myself (though you have me beat on that by a mile), I feel your pain. so here's some serious advice from someone who has had a LOT of experience dealing with the local and county government (though not about my junk collection):

1) Phone messages are completely useless in a case like this. Any communica tion you have with the department should be by certified mail, return recei pt requested. It only costs a couple of bucks, but it makes sure that your piece of paper gets into someone's hands. For an additional fee, you can ad d "deliver to addressee only" which makes sure it gets into your "target's" hands and not into some file clerk's. There are links on the usps.gov web site to

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(a usps contractor) where you can actually type and mail the letter online and you actually get a bulk discou nt on the postage. 2) If you're on reasonable good terms with most of the neighbors, circulate a petition having them ask the authorities to give you the extra time you need. 3) Get involved. If you live in an R-1 zone and you think it should be zone d differently, do something about it. Again, if your neighbors are in favor , it makes a big difference if you show up at a council / freeholders/ what ever they call it there meeting with a well-reasoned and well-documented pl an. This may be easier or harder than you think, Talk to elected officials and see what advice they can give. But always remember, Democracy is NOT a spectator sport. We all know you have your opinions, but what do you actual ly do, other than preach to the choir in rcm? Go to meetings, run for offic e, volunteer your time to help with some civic project (I just saved my tow n $40,000 in electronics repairs). DO something.

So, while they do have the law on their side (the zoning is what the zoning has always been), you can have public opinion on your side, and except in the case of the most corrupt politicians, public opinion = votes = thei r paycheck and you'd be surprised at just how much power a few people can m uster. If all else fails, there is always armed insurrection ;-)

When I bought my house in 1984, I asked my lawyer (who was then also my may or and later my congressman) if there was any problem with me running my bu siness from my house. He said that even though it violates the zoning regul ations, there wouldn't be a problem unless a neighbor complained. 29 years later, and I'm still here. Of course, I suppose, if I pissed off the wrong people enough, I could have a problem. But 29 years, same location.

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whoyakidding's ghost 13 years ago

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Moving it full is easy as well. Use your imaginary backhoe and some rollers, skids, or whatever.

Move it to your imaginary acreage, or to one of your imaginary lots on the quarter of the block you imagine you own, or to your imaginary warehouse.

Call your imaginary black tie dinner buddies, or your imaginary world class economist friend.

So you know some asshat who's as slow as you at getting things done. Maybe he spends all his time on Usenet as well? In any event, hook it up to your imaginary backhoe and tow it out of there.

Less shrugging might have prevented you getting into yet another dumb trailer trash predicament. If you keep shrugging the county will move the container for you and send you a bill that you won't pay. IOW, same s*it, different day.

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Ann RÃ¶manoski Wright 13 years ago

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But it's already sitting on a lot he claims he owns!

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azotic 13 years ago

Looks like there is gonna be more paperwork heading your way. As Paul Dickman said just ask for and extension, and get it done.

Did you check how much the daily fine is?

Get the back hoe out dig a hole. Push container into the hole. Cover the container with dirt. Build an entrance, call it a storm shelter. Out of sight, out of mind when it comes to inspectors. Make shure its on your property.

Best Regards Tom.

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alvinj 13 years ago

*

Kill files are for sissies! LOL :)

Done, "RangerSucker". ;)

Cool post, BTW, RS! :)

Alvin in AZ is a tinkering fool and so's a packrat too. :/

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rangerssuck 13 years ago

And that can be incredibly stiff. You really don't want to put this off wit hout a written agreement.

I do like that idea, especially in light of this week's tornadoes. One thin g I would add is that Gunner could get an "emergency" building permit for t he shelter, just to keep it on the up & up. Tell the permit people he's wor ried that global warming will bring tornadoes to his neck of the desert.

Cut ports (doors ) in the top of the container, then later use chains & bar s to hook up the backhoe and lift the pallets out.

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NevillÃ« M Wiles 13 years ago

The container has been on the adjacent property for a long time. Maybe that's why gummer claims he "owns" the property: adverse possession.

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whoyakidding's ghost 13 years ago

Yabbut no adverse possession because he also says he always had permission from the owner (himself). Oh what a tangled web...

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alvinj 13 years ago

Cool webite you got there, BB. :)

Video was cool too but as usual...

-blah-blah-blah--blah-blah-blah- ...just skip to the middle. ;)

LOL :)

On "old MTV" (ain't watched in a long time) they'd show stuff first then talk about it. Growing up with B&W TV, MTV was a welcomed relief from all the setup and explainations crap you'd have to wait on.

Alvin in AZ

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alvinj 13 years ago

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Wow, that's a real eye opener about what can be found on the internet! :)

Thanks for that, NMW. :)

Alvin in AZ pays his taxes ps- Demublicans v Republicrats, what's the difference? None, they're both owned by the international bankers that own the US Gov't and all U.S. dollars electronic or paper. :/

^^ Thought I'd add a touch-of-reality to the poly-ticks on r.c.m ;) (and m.s and a.s too?)

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Michael A. Terrell 13 years ago

What do you pack the rats in? Does PETA know about this?

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BottleBob 13 years ago

Gunner:

I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you were under severe tim e constraints to move the container off the vacant lot. I figured you coul d go to the back of some markets and get a bunch of cardboard boxes, tape t hem closed, and use them as sort of like packing material for the items ins ide the container, then just move the container over to your own property. That should give you some breathing room to dispose of the items IN the co ntainer, and the container itself. A motor home, even with a non-functioning transmission, is an easier item to move.

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BottleBob 13 years ago

Alvin:

Why thank you. It's pretty long in the tooth now. Earthlink no longer supports the site that I used to create it. So I haven't been able to make any changes to it for about 10 years.

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Winston_Smith 13 years ago

Wouldn't it be nice if Obama sent each of us a check so we could all afford to live in whatever "nice" place we wanted to?

Lacking anything from 0, real people live where they can afford and where they can find work.

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Ignoramus3359 13 years ago

Call towing companies, they can take the forklift and the container.

i

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whoyakidding's ghost 13 years ago

Yup. And he's making another s***ty choice right now. Instead of scrapping his hoard of crap as Ig advised, Gunner will probably keep procrastinating. First there will be fines at a per day rate. Then the county will haul the container to an impound yard, and the rent clock will start running. Gunner will whine up a pity storm, swear he's working on raising bail, but in the end the county will liquidate the crap and send Gunner a huge bill for fines, fees, hauling and storage. Basically a replay of the unpaid taxes scenario from '94 onward - very small bills that cost less than smoking, yet Gunner made the s***ty decision not to pay. Instead he now owes an average of a grand per year, which keeps rising.

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alvinj 13 years ago

Well... you know us "PETA people" we figure "meat's meat". xD

Alvin in AZ

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alvinj 13 years ago

Copy it all off and move it to a better provider??

Panix ain't bad?

I use Pico to edit my website. LOL :) And the HTML is about as simple as I can make it...

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Alvin in AZ ps- Gunner, stuff is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And no more.

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PrecisionmachinisT 13 years ago

When they come back, start waving a gun around whilst loudly proclaiming that it's perfectly legal to shoot trespassers.

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Gunner Asch 13 years ago

constraints to move the container off the vacant lot. I figured you could go to the back of some markets and get a bunch of cardboard boxes, tape them closed, and use them as sort of like packing material for the items inside the container, then just move the container over to your own property. That should give you some breathing room to dispose of the items IN the container, and the container itself.

Shrug...the motor home is in the only good spot to put the cargo container.

Anyone...If I put doors and windows in the cargo container....is it still a cargo container or has it morphed to something else by under other laws?...IE a workshop?

Gunner

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