Cry Baby Neighbors

We have a 1 acre lot with a road in front and in back. Most homes in the area are set up like this with similar sized yards. From the house back is set up with a wooden fence with some fencing removed to allow vehicle access. In the back we keep two boats and a pickup truck or two as well as many other things like firewood, fire pit, wheel barrows, barrels etc. It isn't a nice little manicured suburban yard but is not a dump.

Some chicken spit neighbor sent us a letter with no signature or return address whining about how we need to repair our fence and how it is illegal to park vehicles in the yard ( I don't know if that is true ). Of course they were to scared to knock on the door and rationally voice their concerns.

I don't own an MV yet but I know you guys have experience with this sort of thing when little girls get scared of Deuces. We have no homeowner's association. I want to find out about the legalities of parking in my back yard but don't know how to find out. What do I ask for at the city hall without incriminating myself? I really hope there is no law against where I can park because I am thinking about towing some broken rusted trucks in the back and taking the fence down. There are several homes on our back road that have vehicles parked on them and many of the lawns are "dirtier" than ours. Of course I don't get bent out of shape about it and don't mind too much what my neighbors do with their properties.

This could affect me if I end up buying a deuce so I felt it was worthy of a thread here, and I need advice. What do you guys say?

Start at city hall and tell them you considering buying an RV and you wanted to know if in the off season you could park it in the back yard. I live in a city type setting and as long as it's parked on pavement they won't bother you, the city that is. Where you are they may allow parking on gravel or maybe even grass is fine for them.
As for the neighbors, can't help you there. I am one to believe as long as I don't have trash in my yard or some major health hazard, forget them. I pay my taxes and I don't give them a second look when they do something I don't like. Having said that, my wife tells me that after I brought the deuce home I have a neighbor that expressed interest in moving now becaue of it. Well she wont tell me who and the neighbor isn't interested in talking to me about it and all I can say is piss on them. If you are going to move out because of something I bought oh well. Maybe when they buy the next lil econo box I should put up a for sale sign because I can't stand to be next to such a little car.

You need to call your city offices and get ahold of code services. Ask them how you can get a list or book or what ever of "city ordinences" (sp?)

Google can be your friend,


http://library6.municode.com/default-now/home.htm?infobase=14166&doc_action=whatsnew


City of Wichita - Zoning/Subdivision Main


Sec. 11.52.030. Parking restrictions.
(a) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on any portion of the required front yard of any lot within the city.

(b) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on any portion of the required side yard of any lot within the city.

(c) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on an unpaved surface.

(1) Parking surfaces shall be paved as required in Section 28.04.143 of this Code.

a lot depends on whether or not the vehicles are licensed, the municipalities seem to be more lenient if they are getting a regular revenue from said vehicle.

salt6 said:

Google can be your friend,


Municode.com | Online Library


City of Wichita - Zoning/Subdivision Main


Sec. 11.52.030. Parking restrictions.
(a) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on any portion of the required front yard of any lot within the city.

(b) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on any portion of the required side yard of any lot within the city.

(c) It is unlawful for any person or operator to park a motor vehicle on an unpaved surface.

(1) Parking surfaces shall be paved as required in Section 28.04.143 of this Code.

Click to expand...

So pave a spot and park it in the back yard...

Just call the code department and ask if it is legal for "someone" to park vehicle in the back yard. Do they have to be licensed, etc? If they say it's not legel, have a plan to move them. If your neighbor doesn't like regular cars parked at your property, they will drop a brick from an un-named oriface if you park a deuce there. Know the law and stick with it.

It's things like this that make me realize how glad I am to live in the countryside, not in an incorporated area.

I keep my yard clean and cut so as not to be a burden to my neighbors, but what I want to put in my driveway is none of their concern.

I guess I just ain't all that social.

LC

LongueCarabine said:

It's things like this that make me realize how glad I am to live in the countryside, not in an incorporated area.

I keep my yard clean and cut so as not to be a burden to my neighbors, but what I want to put in my driveway is none of their concern.

I guess I just ain't all that social.

LC

Click to expand...

"DITTO"

I have one small corner of my yard that would be considered 'untidey'.

But since we have no local code officer (only county) I'm sure there have been complaints.. I was told that my name came up at a few borough meetings.... but evidently nothing came of it.

Later on I found out who it was.. couple of yuppies looking for the 'quiet, country life' moved in and evidently I was not fitting into their 'world view'.

Once my M35 comes home it will be parked on the street.. I plan on getting a snow plow on it.... I'm not sure if my yuppie friends will or will not be on the receiving end of a friendly cleared out parking space.

We'll see.

Flyingvan911 said:

Just call the code department and ask if it is legal for "someone" to park vehicle in the back yard. Do they have to be licensed, etc? If they say it's not legel, have a plan to move them. If your neighbor doesn't like regular cars parked at your property, they will drop a brick from an un-named oriface if you park a deuce there. Know the law and stick with it.

Click to expand...

These two pieces of advice are usually mutually exclusive, depending on who answers the phone, how much they know, how much they think they know and maybe even if they don't like the sound of your voice.

salt6 nailed it above: All legal codes in the US are public domain and usually available on the web, as nail demonstrated above by giving a link to the Wichita, KS legal codes, plus quoting the actual code language. Therefore, there's no need to call "someone" in city hall and get their opinion, right, wrong or indifferent.

Good luck.

Al

Whenever you do something out of the norm, know the laws better than your neighbors. I personnally think its not good to butt heads over our MVs. You get people to start griping to city officials then they start passing more laws/restrictions on our hobby. Before long the hobby goes away. Just my 2 cents. Ted

Question Number 1 SHOULD be:

Who has juridsdiction over your property?
(I have re-read your original post and you do not state that you ARE or ARE NOT within the city limits of Witchita, KS. (from your profile))

Then, proceed to step 2:
LOOK UP THE CODES......

According to the Codes, sounds to me like you can park your vehicles in the backyard. It states they must be parked on pavement. Cover your fanny and lay down some asphalt and call it good.
In reference to one of the other posts, some Gal wanted to move because of a MV parked on someone's property? Let me help her get her stuff into a U-Haul, obviously she isn't a good neighbor anyway. I'll take my chances with the new folks that move in, maybe they'll like MVs.
I guess it just depends on where you live, there is about 20 houses on our street. We live on 2.5 acres, nobody has said a word about 2 Deuces, 105 trailer, 116 trailer, and a flatbed car trailer that belongs to a buddy of mine. It's not all strewn around, I try and keep my stuff in straight lines, and keep it close to the shop.

...what he said...

Yeah...and it also pays dividend's to speak with all your close neighbor's. I just moved to a 'country' retreat on 13 acres. Have spoken with everyone east of me (6-residences) and working on those on the west. So far...all are gun owners,don't mind hearing gunfire..they all shoot in their back yards,and all very friendly when I mentioned my MV's will be moved in shortly. One is a cop,three are people that I already knew and most are former military. Wait 'til my FA M2HB starts barking....

Bear in mind that town ordinances do have an important job when people live close together: They help to keep the peace.

I suspect that a neighbor could do something that would make it miserable for you to live in your neighborhood. Some examples:

o Rock and roll party every night until 3AM.
o Tune up open header HD chopper every night until 3AM.
o Install stadium lights around their yard, and run them all night.
o Buy a Nortrack, and use it to mow the yard, dig flower gardens, ...
every free moment.
o Build an industrial strength water slide that drains into your yard.
o Cook smoked possum in an outdoor smoker that is upwind of you.
o Build and use an outhouse instead of the city plumbing.
o Keep swine in a wallow on your fence line.
o Harbor a major colony of yellow jackets along your fence line.
o Let their yard be infested with rats.
o Decide they hate the power company, and run diesel generators 24/7.
o Roosters! Lots of Roosters!
o Let their kids ride their dirt bikes around and around and around the yard.
o Keep a yappy dog chained outside your bedroom window.
o Have a cat that likes to spray your front door, tools, cars, clothes...
o Set up a rifle range aiming at your fence line...
o Fire cannon...
o Set up a baseball field with your house in the outfield.
o Post signs that you find politically/morally repugnant.
o Allow all of their cousins from Mexico to come live with them.

Some of these things you might think are just ducky, but I guarantee that the list of things that someone next door could do that would drive you out of your gourd are endless.

If you don't like ordinances, and don't think YOU should have to abide by them (only everybody else), then perhaps you should do the Ted Kaczynski thing, stay out of highly populated areas, and move out to the country.

That's what I did. (There are days when I look a little like Ted.)

-Chuck

Besides city codes, there are protective covenants for most neighborhoods or subdivisions. These things often get lost or forgotton about after about 20 years by all but the original owners of the same homes when the subdivision was first built. I once avoided buying a 1.5 acre lot with a fine home in it because I got a copy of protective covenants and it said you could not put up a cloths line, or fency unless it was approved by the "committee" whoever that was. I don't need a clothsline, but it was a warning sign that things could get nasty down the road when I put up a privacy fence, as I technically, had to ask permission, in spite of the fact that many were already up.
Protective covenants for most subdivisions can be found in most courthouse records. They can be very limiting on vehicles by way of numbers, types, and quality.
That's why I live in the county rather than the city, but even that isn't enough. Gotta get me about ten acres somewhere and plant a lot of trees anymore, or one cheap commercial or industrial property to enjoy my new hobby.

First off, are you even in the city limits?
If you aren't they don't have **** to say about it.
If you have no home owners association then neither does anyone else.

1) Purchase a surplus 2 stroke Detroit Diesel generator for your home. (2) Make sure it's a na/supercharged only model (no turbo to reduce noice) (3) Remove muffler and let it bark. Hopefully the pesky neighbor will have a for sale sign in their yard in the next few days...

You could also run a heavy grade of used motor oil through it to ensure a nice haze of smoke lingers in your neighborhood.

Andy