Zoning Law

He lives in a city. No septic system!

Easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Are your neighbors going to turn you in?
You would just get a comply notice, no jail time.

No one here can tell the OP whether he can or cannot (legally) do what he wants to do. He must go down to City Hall and find out. Get the specific municipal codes that apply. In my city, while parking an RV is legal, living in one is not. No utility hookups are allowed, either, other than a single electrical cord to charge the battery for 24 hours prior to use.

aftermath wrote:
The responses to the OP are quite interesting. For the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" team, I find it sad that our culture has bred many who willingly pay no attention/respect for the laws....

Just to be clear... You are referring to laws that dictate what you can and cannot do with your own private property. Not laws pertaining to public places like 'don't litter' or 'no speeding'. Some people believe the government is overreaching and choose not to adhere to those laws which they find oppressive to their personal freedom.

Naio wrote:
...First of all, unbeknownst to me, my friend was in a bit of war with the neighbors and inspectors before I got there...

That is the key right there. There are two types of code enforcers. If the department is overstaffed, there are the types which need to justify their jobs. So they will drive around and make sure your grass is not too long and your sidewalks are not cracked. Then there is the other, more common, type. These are lazy government employees who are content to be the big fish in their tiny ponds. They do not want to go out and have to do actual work....unless someone complains, in which case it is an official duty.

Is the OP on a good relationship with their neighbors? Are the neighbors likely to complain if a low profile is kept?

The other side of the coin... Are the neighbors doing something that is technically a code violation? Did the OP call them in? Hopefully not. That is how these things escalate and get out of control. If you want a little bit of 'look the other way', you must be willing to first do so yourself.

My $.02
-Eric

My friend is definitely of the look-the-other-way variety.

As far as two types of code enforcers, maybe that is a rural or urban thing. I have only dealt with inspectors in urban areas, and the ones I'm familiar with all have a policy that they don't go around looking for violations. They only go out when someone reports something. And while they are out, even if they see if a violation across the street they ignore it unless someone complains. It's more of a community standard than a letter of the law approach, I guess.

Rural areas I have dealt with basically don't have land use codes that affect this sort of thing. They have building codes, but that's not what we're talking about in this thread.

I suppose I could imagine a rural area with complicated land use codes and inspectors who were bored enough to drive around looking for violations :-). It's not something I have encountered.

Naio wrote:
...Rural areas I have dealt with basically don't have land use codes that affect this sort of thing. They have building codes, but that's not what we're talking about in this thread...

Rural living definitely has more freedom, but consequently takes more tolerance. If I want to target practice on my land on a Sunday afternoon, my neighbors can't say a darn thing about it. Similarly if their dogs are barking at the moon at 3am, I can't say anything either.

The tolerance comes when I invite the neighbors over for some Sunday afternoon target practice & BBQ, during which I suggest they keep their dogs inside whenever there is a full moon. I think I know my rural neighbors much better than when I lived in suburbia, and that does help the tolerance and understanding as well.

As for rural code enforcement... I think they are really looking at two primary concerns. 1) Is the property owner doing something with their land which will negatively impact the land around it? Dumping pollutants in a stream for example. 2) And can emergency services get where they need to go? Is the road too steep? Is there a place where a fire truck could turn around if they had to? That sort of thing.

I don't even think code enforcement would do anything themselves if they saw new construction. They would, however, mention it to their buddies in the tax assessor & building inspector offices. One hand of government watches out for the other. There is a reason a closed gate exists at the bottom of my driveway.

-Eric

That's a very good point, about the word of mouth between different people who work for the county, etc.