Applying for home occupation advice

[birddseedd]

So the township caught wind that im running a business in a residential area, since i park my equipment at home. They want me to apply for a "home occupation". the main hurtle to get over is not having anything other than a sign showing on the outside of the house indicating a business is ran. In my case I dont even need a sign. Just need to park my trailer outside the home. oh, and pay them 400 bucks to apply to see the board about it....



Im not shutting the business down and putting my family on the street no matter what they say. but i would prefer to do it with their "permission" to avoid the hassle. but to what extent will they go in order to shut me down? 1500 in fines and 15 years in prison?

so much for land of the free.

any advice?


*and no bashing please. this is a serious thread and im not in the mood for it.

[macgyver_GA]

Around here in my county, they just make you put a sign up during the application process to notify your neighbors that you've applied for a permit, then if no one rejects, then they give you the permit. Just another government money grab IMO.

It's different everywhere.

[Kiril]

Park your trailer in front of your neighbors house .... problem solved.

[birddseedd]

Originally Posted by macgyver_GA

Around here in my county, they just make you put a sign up during the application process to notify your neighbors that you've applied for a permit, then if no one rejects, then they give you the permit. Just another government money grab IMO.

It's different everywhere.

They will be notifying the neighbors. the only one im worried about is my next door neither that would complain about it simply to make life hard for me. they haven't lived here in a year and only come by to get the mail. i hope they simply don't get it in time.

ill be talking to the neighbors first.


what im worried about is having a trailer makes it plain to see a business is ran and their main concern is if you can see a business being ran.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Kiril

Park your trailer in front of your neighbors house .... problem solved.

What this guy said ^

[birddseedd]

Originally Posted by Kiril

What this guy said ^

Chuckles. good one.

[tonygreek]

Originally Posted by birddseedd

They will be notifying the neighbors. the only one im worried about is my next door neither that would complain about it simply to make life hard for me. they haven't lived here in a year and only come by to get the mail. i hope they simply don't get it in time.

ill be talking to the neighbors first.

Given the opportunity, I think you might be surprised that the neighbors give you more push back than you think they will. It probably won't happen when you talk to them (people do hate confrontation), but when the city does, their thoughts may be be different.

[birddseedd]

Originally Posted by tonygreek

Given the opportunity, I think you might be surprised that the neighbors give you more push back than you think they will. It probably won't happen when you talk to them (people do hate confrontation), but when the city does, their thoughts may be be different.

True. but hey. worse that happens is they try to shut me down i do it, i end up in jail.

[tonygreek]

Originally Posted by birddseedd

True. but hey. worse that happens is they try to shut me down i do it, i end up in jail.

You've referred to shutting down a couple of times now, but you haven't mentioned getting a place to store the trailer. Without knowing your business financial health, is it a matter of economics or perceived principal of the matter?

[birddseedd]

Originally Posted by tonygreek

You've referred to shutting down a couple of times now, but you haven't mentioned getting a place to store the trailer. Without knowing your business financial health, is it a matter of economics or perceived principal of the matter?

As much as i would like to be able to say this was about the principal. unfortunately it is not. sure the law is unconstitutional, but very few of them are.

I have looked into both owning a building and storage. Frankly i would like to have a nearby place to store my trailer during the summer to free up the parking around my house. Problem is that is another bill. Hopefully we will have a decent winter and i will have a little revenue to advertise and gain a few more customers this next season and a 50 a month bill will be a non issue.

And now that im thinking about the monetary aspect.... Its going to cost me about the same to rent storage as it would applying for a meeting with the township...... this is kind of a non issue.

ya. seriously 400 bucks to the township jsut to have the opportunity to speak with them. messed up huh...