Ordinance problems Springfield mass

path1 wrote:

raindove wrote:
I thought if you had a pre-existing condition, that is now outlawed by ordinance, you could get grandfathered in.

I'm sure everyplace is different. When we were absorbed into a incorp city from the county and could not get a building permit to build a new house on back lot because the city we were put into has a 20 foot wide rule on drive ways. Ours is 17 feet wide. Many of us that were effected by this felt this was wrong and should be "grandfathered". Our "new" city said "no" even though the propaganda said that all pre-existing ordinances would not change.

Our rights are being eroded away, bit by bit. Seriously makes me wonder what kind of world we are leaving to our grandkids to live in.

I remember the screaming matches at the borough meetings - one guy did NOT want to see fences lined up down through town, so no one was to be able to put a fence over 3 ft high in a front yard. Really? A 3 ft fence won't keep many dogs contained. Maybe toy breeds. But my question was that maybe another guy likes fences -- how would the guy fighting it, like it if he was told he HAD to put a fence up.

We are talking about an 88 house borough - not a major metropolitan area. If you blink your eyes, you miss it completely when driving through.

It's all about the "me" mentality so rampant these days.

raindove wrote:
I thought if you had a pre-existing condition, that is now outlawed by ordinance, you could get grandfathered in.

I'm sure everyplace is different. When we were absorbed into a incorp city from the county and could not get a building permit to build a new house on back lot because the city we were put into has a 20 foot wide rule on drive ways.

You have to find out exactly where you stand legally. Look up the codes and talk with a lawyer. If you don't, over the years ALL your neighbors will take advantage of you and then it start costing you money just to keep what is yours.

Very maddening to give or do something for somebody and they to screw you.

Some people have nothing better to do than complain on items that should not even concern them.
A good neighbor policies has gone away and today it is all about me, and me alone, what a shame.

I thought if you had a pre-existing condition, that is now outlawed by ordinance, you could get grandfathered in. We had a kennel for years before local ordinances were enacted that forbid it. We were able to get grandfather status. If we ever let our kennel license go, we could never get it back again, but as long as we keep it, we're good.

I would hope you got your permission in writing, with the condition you widen your driveway.

When the city water company went through each home was allowed to keep one outside spigot off their wells. We applied for exception - in a now residential area, we own the farm of what is left after they were done hacking it up to create the said residential area. We have livestock, kennel, etc. We got special exception to have 4 outside spigots off our wells due to the nature of our property. It's in writing and locked in a fire proof box.

HARLYGL94 wrote:
Hi, I am having trouble with ordinance issues in Springfield mass they are now telling me I can't even park it in my backyard and I pay close to $4000 in taxes here in the city and I have a nice clean well-kept yard here what should I do now? Does anyone have any ideas where I can store this RV it's a 30 foot Winnebago.
They had agreed previously to let me park it there if I made my driveway wider which cost me a lot of money I did so now the neighbors complaining again so now they're asking me to remove it please help me if you can give me some idea what to do on this thank you ever so much!

Is it the government giving you a hard time or some fracking homeowners association?

If it's the government:
Time to start writing your city council, county commissioner and state rep. Hire an attorney, he/she may be cheaper than buying a new house or paying for long term storage.

I seem to recall reading in the Michigan Bill of Rights that no locality shall make a law that obstructs or interferes with my right as a citizen of the state... I'm sure Mass. has something similar. So you need a clever attorney to find wording in a state statue that allows you to park your camper on property you own, and threaten to sue the locality for trampling on your rights.

If it's a HOA:
You're screwed - should have read the fine print and master deed before you bought the property. You own your house and the ground around it, but some baron owns the neighborhood and holds the master deed and you live by their law.

I had a similar problem in Carmel, Indiana. (Hamilton County). I moved to a cornfield in Madison County. I couldn't win, and my philosophy is, "I sleep where my camper parks." If I can't park it at home, I'm not living there. We moved.

Unfortunately, it took some time to get relocated. Meanwhile, we had to do something with the camper. My in-laws lived about 60 miles from there, but they have a farm. We ended up taking the camper there. It sat for almost 9 months over a 20 degree below zero winter. Unfortunately, I could not just run up and tend to the camper ever night. The shower walls ended up cracking, the linoleum floor cracked, some of paneling on the walls cracked due to the extreme cold and no way to tend to it to keep it warmed during those extreme cold days.

Finally, we moved anyway. We had 2 mortgages, 2 houses, and 2 sets of real-estate to maintain 25 miles apart from each other, working full time in Information Technology which demanded lots of overtime and strange night hours. It was a mess. But it was WORTH it 100%. You guessed it, we didn't do much camping that year.

YOU have to make up your mind what's most important to you. Your RV lifestyle or the **** neighbors you have to live beside every day! Moving may be your best option. We found out we were very hateful toward our neighbors when all this went down. We could not have continued living there, even if the rules changed. The grapes were spoiled, never to be the same.

The photo below was taken the day we brought the camper home from the in-laws to the new house (we moved in late February, the camper came home about a week after we moved the first load of furniture). It was one of the happiest day of my life! And have absolutely NO regrets about moving, the problems selling the old house, the expenses, the work, the aggravation, the stress, or the headaches. It was ALL worth it now! We live in peace now!

Did "they" agree in writing?

Simple "they" agreed that if you made your driveway wider you could park it in the back yard. Then hold "them" to their agreement.