Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Code enforcement showed up today to let me know that some one has complained about my property (apparently they can't be to specific about who complained or why.) Chances are they are gonna tell me I have to take down the Cold frame structure over my system and the outdoor kitchen cover!!!!!

Sigh

Bugger.... can you get specifics as to what you've "breached"... and/or ways to comply???

And this is the time of year when everything is at it's worst. Hopfully you can just make the corrections complained about and the inspector doesn't go too indept. When were you planning your move???

you obviously pissed someone off TC, or jealousy one of the 2, funny rules you have, code enforcement sounds like someone with a big gun

The code enforcement guy will be back once he has done his homework.
(He has seen the stuff before but wasn't gonna worry about it. However now that some one has lodged a complaint, he has no choice but to inspect and issue the appropriate citations.)

Really annoying that people can't mind their own business (most of the people lodging the complaints, can't see my place from their house, they just walk around the neighborhood looking for people to turn in.)

Anyway, it seems that just about anything that can hold plastic over my system is gonna be an "Accessory structure" and will require a permit and sealed engineering drawings.

Here are my current guesses about the outcome.
I expect that I can leave the wire over the monster bed but I just have to remove the plastic so it doesn't "annoy" the neighborhood.
I'll see if simply removing the plastic from the main part of the system makes them happy. I fear that I will have to remove the fencing panels and the horizontal wood pieces. I personally don't see how they can object to some posts holding up trellis netting so hopefully I can just leave the posts in place.
I'll probably have to do the same on the outdoor kitchen too.

Sad thing is, that looses me all my rain water collection since the gutters would have to come down too.

No, I don't think I personally pissed anyone off. There is a portion of the larger neighborhood around here that apparently likes to go search the neighborhood for things to complain to the county about. Last year the enforcement officer noted how they would send the complaint e-mails all through the night. It's just the prissy people who want everyone's lawns to look the same and think everyone's lives should be off the shelf with matching rules for everyone.

Last year they complained about the RV so this year we have had to get a permit to store it in the back yard while my mom is staying with us.

Before that they complained that I was running a nursery (which I am no, I guess they just don't like some of my plants or don't think it is proper to have them in nursery pots on occasion.)

Sorry TC - real bummer!

I knew I would have to deal with my HOA and submitted plans to them - still waiting to hear back. Are you in city limits? Since I am not, I assume I will not have to deal with any other authority as building permits are not required in the county - or am I wrong? I would have thought Florida and Texas would have similar codes.

sminfiddle - you looked into this at all?

Thanks
Mark

There really isn't a HOA in my neighborhood (there is an improvement society but they have no real power.)

I'm in Unincorporated Orange County which means I'm subject to the Orange County Code and of course there is building codes and inspections since it is Florida and we do get hurricanes and such.

There is the real sticker, pretty much everything needs a permit. (ya need a permit to have a yard sale, ya need a permit to put up a tent, ya need a permit to do any building.) I was hoping to get away with calling it a garden trellis since it is really just some posts and wire and I could fine no where in the code where it said you needed permits and archetectural drawings for garden trellising. Sigh, then again, many around this part of the country are gonna try and turn you in for picking oranges off your backyard trees!!!!! So god forbid they should let a garden happen. (yes, I have heard about some poor family being told they had to rip out their veggie garden and put down sod in their back yard because they were not allowed to put up a privacy fence because the community had already put a split rail fence along the back and you can't have two fences next to eachother because that would cause unsafe conditions because you can't mow between them!!!!)

I so want to move out to the middle of no where!!!!!!

Welcome to AmeriKa, the 'free-est country' in the world!!

Yeah, the same neighbors will be hungry if the economy continues to spiral! Serves them right!!

You can move up here... I'm out in the country with a few neighbors, but gardens and GH structures are pretty common and expected fare for country livin'!!


Grrr... makes me mad. Sorry you have this trouble!

CB

Sounds like Narrogin is the place for you TC

Wow, sounds terrible. You need a permit to have an RV in your BACK yard?! Get a Permit for a really big fence so you can keep the sticky-beakers out.

Hrrrm what could you do here. Subterranean aquaponics?

what is he building in there . . . . ?

what indeed!

I'll bet if there was any type of shortage etc, "they" would be the first ones to claim the 'fruits' of your efforts as their own, because of their short sighted selfishness. They would consider it their Constitutional right, being good Americans! (share and share alike!!)

And, of course, you would gladly agree to that scenario,. . . . . wouldn't you? Yeah. . . .right!

Good Luck. IanK

Wow, that really sux TC...... but then kind of typical as well isn;t it... Don't give a damn how useful or what good something is doing, if someone doesn't like the look of it when they happen to wander past once a week, it should come down... How dare you cause them to look at something they don't like....

Good luck with it, hope the guy sees sence.

Yea, sigh. The code enforcement guy can really only cite me for things that are actually against the rules in the county code. Which I think means the "structures."

As for the rest of it, well hopefully they will be happy for a while once the "structure is down.

Yea, it is sad that so many people are all wanting to tell everyone else how to live their lives. They would rather force you to mow your lawn and spray it with chemicals/fertilizer and water it to the point of polluting the ground water yet they are gonna complain that a vegetable garden poses some sort of community health risk because they personally feel it is unsightly.

I don't think it is so much to do with the country I live in but more to do with being on the outskirts of a metro area where much of the housing around us is planned development McMansions with landscaping company tended yards and grounds to the point that you have to put up a 6' high privacy fence and a screened in lanai to be able to step out your door for longer than it takes to walk to your car, which of course must be in a garage so then again, these people really don't spend time out of doors at home. Heck, I'm comming to the conclusion that what most of the neighborhood actually dislikes is that I do spend so much time outdoors!

Chances are, no one would have said a thing except the front corner of my property is visible from a park.

Well there's the problem then TCL.... being seen outside, might encourage others to use the park.... thus threatening any potential development of a local "fat factory" franchise...

It's people like you that are destroying the very fabric of modern life...

Thank bloody goodness...