I got a letter saying that I have too many cars visible from the street. not parked on the street, just VISIBLE. In my own fricken DRIVEWAY! They say the limit is 2 per residence.. that's right, TWO. This is a three bedroom house, with enough driveway space to park 7 cars. It's an unincorporated part of the San Luis Obispo County called Los Osos. It's somewhat rural with no sidewalks and not even all the streets are paved. Somehow having cars in my driveway is a blight to the neighborhood? Come on. My first instinct is to build a giant sign that says "The county says I can only have two vehicles visible from the street, so I built this sign to hide them" and then put the cars behind it. Then when they complain about the sign I can claim freedom of speech. My dad owns the house (we pay rent), so there's no chance of getting evicted. Any suggestions how I can fight this? (the letter was actually sent to my dad) I moved here specifically to avoid this sort of ordinance that cities typically have.. who knew the county would come after me?

I'm pissed!

--Royce
(6 cars and a 914)
(two are temporary)

Do it! Do it!


This is for your county assholes! :finger2:

So they say... they can take a look at my yard...

That what you get when you live in the pansy ass state of California...

You can walk down the street tounge kissin another guy but can't smoke or have too many cars...

lol.

Move back to America... The midwest loves cars, we tolerate the gays. (They mostly drive rice anyway...)

Get the town regulation and post it. The devil is in the details, sometimes a badly worded reg is avoidable by a tarp.

Welcome to Amerika in the 21st century.
These laws get passed,because of the apathy of each countys residents.
I mean that almost no-one goes to their county council meetings on any regular or ir-regular basis.This kinda shit gets passed,usually with no-one to voice opposition.
These laws are always put forth to people as ways for good,kind hearted,they care about you,LIBERALSSSSSS.Just trying to beautify the community.Believe me,these are the people you voted into office,and there like minded supporters do go to the council meetings.
1st they took away your rights as a parent to raise your kids the way you think they should be raised.Then they passed laws giving your pets more rights than you have.Now your beginning to realize you have no rights anymore as a landowner.
I got the same problem here,you should see all the privacy fences going up around my county.
The only way they'll take away my teener is when they pump me w/some lead.
Welcome to Amerika,circa 2004.
R

I had to get my trailer out of my driveway beacause one of my neighbors complained to the city. Its only a small open trailer.

Worse part is that next block over a guy keeps a 38' motorhome on the swale. Difference is his neighbors aren't a**holes.

And we have at least 3 cars in our driveway at night and 5 during the day.

would love to move to the country.

dr

If it helps, I can "store" a 914 for you for the summer

Same thing happen to me here in Indiana. Three car garage, with Wifes car, my teener, and small lift with a parts car on it. In the Drive my Truck and the other parts car. My solution was two fold:

1) Put a car cover over the outside parts car.

2) Here the new plates are flat, so scanned a copy of an old plate, glued it to cardboard and put it on the parts car. You can't tell from the street that its not real.

I say try some car covers.

- Garold

honestly, i'd tell em to fuckoff. this isn't russia or china last time I checked. Those ordinances were put there because someone ran a shop out of their house and pissed off the neighbors. If you aren't doing that I'd fight it. Raise a stink, get your neighbors on your side. Call the local tv news. write a letter to the editor of your newspaper.

If my county told me I had too manycars, I'd run the damn guy off my property! when those bastards PAY MY TAXES they can tell me what to do on my 20 acres, till then get the hell out of MY yard!

One of the magazines I get is Classic Trucks magazine (I have a 54 Chevy Panel Van) and I remember when they were talking about this law a few years ago. Unfortunately it was brought up for peole that really deserved it, you know seven broke down clunkers in the front yard. But what everyone says is right: if your neighbors suck, you're going to suffer.

Each county can do their own thing in this case, but there's a couple of things you should do: write your congressman, cc the county agency that wrote you the letter, explaining your situation. Like I said, the law wasn't brought about for hobbyists, it was brought around for people that have crappy cars that break down, and don't have money to fix or move them, etc.

If they wanted to sieze your cars, they would have to have a written consent from you (fat chance) or a writ of entry (takes a good while) because its on private property. If they take anything without that, you can sue there pants off.

Go down to our county recorder's office and see if somebody filed a lien against you. It could be one of your neighbors or even the county. I'm guessing you don't belong to the home-owners association (man I hate those guys, usually only for condos).

So show us a pic of your driveway so we can see just how badly you're lowering the prop value in your neighborhood Seriously, the law is pretty iffy about this kind of thing, but if somebody actually tows your cars, its not going to be easy or cheap t get them back.

I wish they had that law in the ritzy L.A. area where my in-laws live I am sure their neighbors appreciate the beater cars in front of the $4mil houses or covered with blue tarps in the driveway. They had 11 cars at one point, now "only" 8 or so.

Those are the kinds of situations where the rules are appropriate and originally written for, I think.

At my place I think we have a CC&R that says we need to keep our garage clear enough to be "able to" park two cars inside out of view. I don't recall any CC&R or rule about vehicles parked in the driveway or on the street. I have left my racecar trailer out on the street for weeks before with no fuss from the neighborhood -- thank god as I don't want those kind of neighbors

Hmmm, they've changed it since I lived in Baywood Park in the 70's & 80's. They used to allow 3. I had to move 2 of my cars because of the county. I tried slightly to fight it, but it was no use. Good luck. If you need any assistance with the car(s), let me know. I travel from Arroyo Grande, to Hearst Castle 3 days a week.

Is there a signature on the letter? If so, a quick internet search should bring up their address - go park them all at that persons house!

The US isn't going down the shitter and it isn't all the liberals fault or pansy ass California.

Firstly, I would find out exactly what the rules are and then have a friendly conversation with the county people and find out what their reaction would be to you putting up a fence.

You want to appear workable and amicable. If some of your cars are temporary, you could tell them that and ask them how they would like you to handle it, given the situation. Maybe you could get a temporary permit. Getting in a frenzy about it is really only going to make them dislike you more which means they will make your life harder.

Enough of this cold dead hands shit already. We aren't living in the wild west anymore - if you want gunfights over 914s, you probably need to move to Iraq.

The first mistake is living in California! I stayed there two days after I got out of the Marines and got the hell out!

You can't "LIVE" there! Too many bastards concerned with what YOU do on your own damn land! Too many damn lines to wait in! Too many damn people to get in the way!

I'll take my old dirt road, and the ability to shoot my guns, make my noise and LIVE anyday over it, even if that means driving 20 minutes to see the first traffic light!

I feel sorry for you guys!

Gotta run, have 2316 on the dyno- its time to let everyone for 6 miles know how bad ass it is! (thats how far away you can hear it)

You ain't LIVING unless you can set off nukes that you can FEEL 20 miles away.

Right to bear arms doesn't mean guns anymore - you need to move on. Unless you have a small battery of missiles you're living in the dark ages. Ask Larry Ellison - or that guy in NZ that was building his own Cruise.

Jake, all respect, but if your impressions of CA were formed entirely in San Diego County (which I'd expect was so if you were a jarhead), then you haven't seen most of California. There are plenty of places here, still, where you can own a good-sized plot of land and not even hear your neighbors, let alone see them. I have friends who live in the Sierras who have thier phone line nailed to the nearest oak tree (this is an actual phone company regulation). There are counties in the far north half the size of Georgia with 5% of the population. Nobody bothers you up there.

It's all down to the neighborhood. I deliberately bought a house in what I call a plumbers and electricians area. Upper blue collar. The guy at the end of the street has two box trucks and a tow truck parked in front of his house regularly. Next door, the neighbor has three trucks and a jeep, all parked outside. No one complains about my 914 and two Minis. No one complains about satellite dishes, or going an extra week w/o cutting the lawn, or ...

I have, however, had neighbors in the Midwest (St. Louis: 12 years) whine because my grass was too high, or I had a rusty car in the drive with flat tires. There are nosy assholes all over. They're hardly unique to California.

I probably know the guy that is busting yer balls....get in touch with me.....

Was the guy's name Geoff Simpson?

Shortly after a couple of city slickers moved in across the road, “someone” complained about my cars (BTW some neighbour has complained about yours), I read the law. I was allowed one boat on a trailer, one other trailer, farm equipment was exempt, two unplated cars and no limit on plated cars. I put a couple of scrap cars, a ratty boat and tent trailer right on the front lawn, then I told the farmer next door what was going on. “We’ll fix their wagon” he said, the next day I came home to find manure spreaders, ploughs, seeders, plus a big mother tractor and combine parked on my front lawn.

The inspector came by, looked around, big smile “your 100% legal Mr. Henry”. I told him to tell “whoever” that it would be gone in a couple of weeks, if they complained again it would be back for good. “Will do”, he laughed.

I never had another complaint.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am definitely going to find and read the exact law, to see what technicalities I can use. They aren't threatening to tow or confiscate anything. They're threatening large fines and even jailtime for the home owner. Somehow I doubt anyone ever gets jailtime for having too many cars visible. I probably have some leeway in this regard because I am not the homeowner, and my dad is not 100% responsible for my actions. (although he is 50% responsible for my existence)

I'll keep you posted on developments, and I'll put up a driveway pic (the 914 is probably the ugliest car there)

Thanks again,
--Royce

I went all over the state while I was there... We flew to every base there and i had plenty of time to see what was outside of alot of them.

I know that Northern cali is much better than SOCAL but still there are simply too many things that limit ya.....

BTW, I have set off an M58 fragmentation grenade down in my "bottom" when we dug our fish pond, made it easier to get the landscape prepared for the Caterpillar that followed!

Can't we all just get along...

get a copy of the law that they cite aginst you, and let us see it. I fouhgt a law in Redwood City that gave $20 tickets to people with for sale signs in their cars. They were raking in about $1000 per month on this. I fought it, and it was ruled ILLEGAL as worded in the city code (they can do it, but must have a notice sign posted at each location they write the ticket) Their code was in violation of state code!

Now get this, I showed them state law, and asked them to dismiss, they did not and made me go thru three levels of appeals (hoping I'd drop it no doubt) they knew they were wrong, the city council, the chief of police all knew it, but kept writting the tickets. I even got a phone recording from the issuing officers captian, who said he believes I am right, but wants me to fight the ticket anyway!

After I won, it took three months to get MY money back from them. also within several months, they started writting those tickets again. This time I wrote down all the phone numbers of the people that got the ticket, then I called the captain, and told him that he was not supposed to write them anymore, and he better dismiss all them new tickets, this guy tells me there is nothing he can do about already written tickets (false! calif vehicle code allows for issuing agency to dismiss any ticket in interest of justice within 30 days) I told him I have the phone numbers, and will tell the people that got the tickets how I fought it, and how the police know it is an illegal ticket. He stopped me and told me to have the people call him, and he will take care of it, which I did, so far after about 6 months, no more tickets like that are being written in Redwood City.

Talk about crooked cops making $12000 per year off illegal tickets, tickets that if any of them cared to read the vehicle code, they would find illegal. Yet they continued to write them, until caught not once, but the second time. These guys won't even think of refunding the prior years tickets. Heck they wouldn't think of giving back what THEY stole from the public. Nice little racket they had going. Bastard cops. Pretty smart too, keeping the fine at $20 so most people would just pay it, not me!

At any rate, read the code, and any law that the code cites as authority. You might have to go to a council meeting with this. They can have laws on the books, but you may find those laws to be illegal, so be sure to get the entire code, with references to state laws.

There are laws that have said that visual tastes can NOT be used for laws like these. Now they can pass building codes for safety, and make you remove blight that hobors rats. But cars is another matter, and unless there are CCR's for your property, the number of cars should not be enforcable by them.

let me know how this goes. I really get worked up with government intrusion, and will help you fight this anyway I can.

Are the cars in running order, and licesensed? That can make a difference.

some times a car cover might be enough to get them off your back.

Also did someone complain? or was this just an over active code enforcer, this too can make a difference?

dave

I think it's fair to say that the cops are not at fault here. The money doesn't go into their pockets., it went into the city's pocket. The problem was with the city council. The cops were told to issue the tickets, and they did what they where told. After you fought it, they stopped, the city council no doubt told them to start again, and they did what they were told.

Find out who on the city council started the whole thing and raise a stink, or they'll just get re-elected. They're no doubt causing other problems you just haven't come across, yet. No doubt they were involved in getting that illegal ordinance passed in the first place.

Give the cops a break. They don't pass the laws, they just enforce them.

I agree with most of what people have written about not wanting to be told what to do but (yes, here it comes) things can get out of hand.

I wish people would use their garages for their damn cars. My neighbor to the right has his garaged filled with a boat, motorcycles and a bunch of junk and always 3 or 4 cars on the street. My neighbor accross the street has his garage packed to the gills with junk. It's so bad that they can't even walk through their garage. And they always have 3 cars parked out front. For a few years he had an ugly boat parked in the driveway and 3 rusting ATVs on the side of the house. My neighbor to the left converted half of his garage into storage so with two driving teenagers and his extra car he has four cars parked out front. It really would be a lot nicer if everybody used their garage for it's intended purpose and we had half the number of cars out on the street.

yes. this is all pansy-assed California's fault. very nice, gentlemen.

Ok, I read the law, and talked to the code enforcement guy. Here is the story: Cars in use are ok to have visible. _STORED_ cars are not. So I'm going to put a car in the garage, put two on the side of the house, and sell two. (I was selling two anyways). The remaining ones which will be used daily will remain on the driveway and everything will be hunkey dorey. If anyone wants to help me out, you can bid on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=2478176196

(strangely enough this was not one of the cars they complained about, probably because it looks completely normal from the street)

In case you're wondering: yes, the engine from it is going in the 914

Thanks for the support guys,
--Royce

Hmmmmm Los Osos - they couldn't sell the effin land so they used to give it away at the local theatre during intermission.

Ahhhhh - Montana De Oro - drugs and sunsets on the beach - that was the life!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I found out nobody complained. They just go around looking for trouble. Cited 10 people on my street. At least now I know I don't have any enemies (except the county)

--Royce

I think someone (Arnie) told the CA cops they have to write more tickets to keep their jobs. Enforcement of just about everything seems to have increased significantly in the last few months.

Seems like you have a resolution though - good on ya.