I'm not a lawyer, but I'm in construction and I deal with local zoning
codes and officials all the time.
I seriously doubt anyone wants your car. Even if they do tow it, all
you have to do is pay the fine and get it back, so they won't get it.
All that will happen is you get a lot of hassle and a lighter wallet.
Most likely either:
A) a neighbor is bitching to the town
B) somebody at town hall got heat about ANOTHER guys wreck, and the
town is busting on everybody so they don't look like they're harassing
one guy.
You can take it to court, if you really want to spend your time and
money, but I can assure you the town has more of both than you do.
And if you win, they'll just find something else to nail you on. Once
you get a rep with the town as being a hard-ass, they never forget
you. It's the same in nearly every town hall. You will have more
inspectors on your property than you ever dreamed existed.
My advice is to rent one of those self-store units for a few months
till the town moves on to a new topic. Or take out insurance, register
the car, get it inspected and then cancel the insurance.
They don't say "you can't fight city hall" for nothing.
On Sun, 26 Aug 2001 23:30:19 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:
>Need your opinions, folks...
>
>While this particular situation doesn't specifically
>apply to a military vehicle, it can. It almost did
>before when the city was harassing me about my M38A1.
>Now, they're trying to harass me about my '68 Mustang.
> My theory is that someone in the city government has
>seen it and is trying to confiscate it for their own
>personal use.
>
>I would like opinions on the interpretation of the
>following definition of "junk motor vehicle". The way
>I read it is apparently contrary to what the city
>believes it says. The code enforcement goon that has
>been continually harassing me over the past 5 years
>has asked me to demonstrate the vehicle is operational
>and I have done so. This time, she said she didn't
>care if it was operational and that it needed to have
>either a valid inspection sticker or registration or
>they would tag and tow it.
>
>The vehicle is *fully* operational and is not
>registered or inspected because I do not drive it on
>the street. It looks REALLY nice and is in no state
>of disassembly or disrepair. I drive my M1009 when I
>need to go places...frankly, I don't trust the
>18-year-old freshmen here at Texas A&M not to rear-end
>me in the Mustang. If they rear-end me in the M1009,
>their car will be in a much bigger world of hurt than
>mine. :-)
>
>I've pasted the text of the definition below. Please
>let me know what you think and whether or not you have
>any legal training. I want your opinions either way
>though...this could happen to you. Be careful...I
>know others have talked about this on the list and had
>specific comments on military vehicles in particular.
>They can apparently steal anyone's vehicle fairly
>easily with this particular statute...especially if
>the code enforcement idiot misinterprets the
>ordinance. I'm going to call the City Attorney in the
>morning and get his take one this...I'm sure he
>probably would rather not have the code enfocement
>polizei wrongfully applying the ordinance. I think
>their performance standards are on quotas and not
>accuracy though...
>
>Pay careful note to the placement and use of the word
>"AND" in the definition...to me, this means both
>conditions must be met for the definition to be true.
>I think the code enforcement yokels think "and" really
>means "or". Yes, I could go buy insurance (required
>to get registration or inspection) and get it
>inspected or registered but this really is a matter of
>principle. I don't drive it on public roads so I
>shouldn't have to do this...and it is fully
>operational.
>
>T. Bloxom
>1985 M1009 CUCV
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>(1) Junked Motor Vehicle means any motor vehicle as
>defined in Article 4477-9a, Texas Revised Civil
>Statutes, as amended:
>
>(a) that is inoperative; and
>
>(b) that does not have lawfully affixed to it either
>an unexpired license plate or a valid motor vehicle
>safety inspection certificate, that is wrecked,
>dismantled, partially dismantled, or discarded, or
>that remains inoperable for a continuous period of
>more than forty-five (45) days.
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:41 PDT