Commercial business on residential property

[shecky]

What is the name of your state? PA

My wife and I bought our house in 1989. Behind our house is a 16 foot alley. Behind us on the other side of the alley are two 3 bay cinder block garages in an L shape, one basically parallel to ours. The business is concrete cutting and tool repair. When we moved there, thier was 1 guy who used to go out, in a business van from the garage behind us, and another guy who used to work in the other garage off and on during the day. He was not there all day. Noise was never an issue. Our deed and the deeds around us, originating in 1900, have VC zoning listed. I was told our house was a small general store back in the 1940's. In the last 17 years, this business behind us has gone from the one van to 4 large box trucks, 1 utility truck, 3 or 4 vans and a pick up truck. They now have about 12 people or so working from back there, including at least 3 that work back thier all day. They are there at 6:00 am, and thier are people there working many nights until 7:30, 8:00 at night. I assumed when we moved here that his business was legal because the buildings were there, they were built in 1980, and people were working from there, and because of the VC zoning. The noise has been getting unbearable, many hours of disc sanding, grinding, pressure washing, compressors running. I looked into some definitions of VC zoning and the types of commercial business that is allowed. This business did not seem to fit the bill.

We looked up his parcel behind us on the local county website property search. It is a 3 acre parcel. The owner built a 4000 square foot home on the property in 1999. On the county records for his property, it says the land classification is single family residential, and the land use code is residential. It has the 2 garages that the guys work out of listed as out buildings on the property, just as my garage is listed on my property search. I stopped at our township hall a week ago to ask about the VC zoning definition and found out that my whole area here is now rezoned residential. I explained the situation to some of the township employees. They metioned him possibly being grandfatherd. All other businesses in the area that I looked up in the property records, including two other buildings owned by the same family that owns the buidings behind us, say the land classification is commercial.

If this this is correct, and he never had the land approved for commercial use, could he still be grandfatherd in because of the old VC zoning issue. I'm thinking he can't if it never was approved for commercial use. If they say it is because of the old VC zoning, do I have a case in saying this business does not fit the intentions, or belong in VC zoning area? They took my name and number and said they would look into it and give me a call. I have heard nothing yet. Having this business behind us as it is today, could cost us a lot of money if we sell our house, if 75% of potential buyers are scared off by this business right be hind us. We were concerned when we purchased but were assured by a neighbor - you don't even know there is anybody back there, which was the truth, for about the first 5 years we lived here. If we can't get any help from the township supervisors, or zoning board, would we have a decent legal case to pursue?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[John Se]

Make sure to make your requests in writing

With those local governments they can "forget" to work on conversational, email or Phone in request, but if you send a letter and copy multiple people (including your attorney) then they will have to respond. Seems like you are working the the correct way. You should also check up on their licensing status and permits.

 

[shecky]

Thank you

Thanks for the reply. I will do that.

 

[shecky]

Update

I was talking to a neighbor who owns a house across the street from us. He does not live there but has owned the house for a long time. He told me when the 2 garages were built in 1980, they were used as warehouses for the original part of the business that was built in 1975 and is located about less than a mile from here.
He did not remember any kind of variance letters being sent out or anything like that. I called the township hall for an update on anything and they said I need to call back tomorrow when the zoning officer is in. Lets see what happens?

 

[shecky]

Update

I called the township last Friday. They said they are going through the records in the basement and to this point, have not found anything - variances or business permits, at this time. We have also e-mailed the county about the parcel being classifeid as residential, and our thinking this business is not legit in hopes of getting them involved.

 

[shecky]

Update

We emailed the county about the situation and got the following reply:

"We have the property listed as a residential property because there is a home and two garages listed on the property. We have nothing to do with the fact that they are operating a business out of the garage. That would be something for the Township to look into."

We thought they would have an interest from a tax perspective of the property?

We will call the township tomorrow as we have not heard from them in a week.
In the meantime we are taking photos and video of the business.

 

[shecky]

Update

We got a phone message from the township code enforcement
officer yesterday that they are going over the records as to
what the property is listed as and the activity that is taking
place, and then there will be a hearing with notices being
sent out, and they will see what they have to do from there.
Maybe there's hope.

 

[justalayman]

Good luck, it seems your diligence may pay off.

re the county thing: they should be concerned about the taxes but the assessor is the one who inputs the info for the taxes. If any buildings were built without permits, they would not be aware of them until notified (by you maybe?) but if things work like they should, the township should get it straightened about because of what is happening now.

Additionally the county cannot tax for commercial property unless it is zoned as such or with special use permitting. If they unilaterally taxed this guy at business rates, they would be applying an illegal tax to an illegal situation.

I would think the township would call this guy and ask him for any proof he has. If he cannot show it or at least tell the township when and what allows him to do as he is, it is probably illegal.

 

[shecky]

Update

My wife called and talked to the code enforcement officer yesterday. He said they found a variance in the records. He said it was for a machine shop and mentioned something about parking spots. She said he was very vague and not forthcoming with answers to her questions. She asked what the date of the variance was, he said he was not sure. He said it was in a file on the zoning officers desk, but he did not go to get it to check. She asked if the owner of the business had been notified. He said, he was very hesitant to answer, “I’m not aware of that”. We think he has been. She asked if she could stop to see the variance, he said sure it’s public record. She asked if she could see it yesterday, he was hesitant, and said oh, I don’t know. She stopped on the way home from work to ask if she could see it. The secretary said the zoning officer was in a meeting and that the variance was in the file on the code enforcement officers desk and he was out for the day and that she should make an appointment to meet with him to see it. It all seemed a bit strange. Maybe that’s the way it always is, I don’t know. He did mention something to my wife about issuing a cease and desist order. We’ll see what happens from here. There is a supervisors meeting on Thursday. If we don’t here anything on the variance by then, my wife wants to go to that meeting.

 

[shecky]

Update

I received a call from the code enforcement officer yesterday. He said they are having a meeting with the owner next Thursday 5-11-06 to go over all his permits and his variance as to what is actually being done there. From what he told me, it appears all he has for back here was a variance for a machine shop (they do tool repair so I’m guessing this what they called it) and up to 2 employees. He basically said he will have three options:

Apply for a variance to expand the business
Scale back to the original conditions of the variance
Close up shop and move

I have to imagine he is going to apply for the variance. The thing I don’t like is we maybe on our own. The house next to us is for sale. Next to us on the other side is an elderly man who is not doing well. The 2 homes that border his property on the side of hime were just put up for sale, so none of these people may care when a hearing comes along. I can’t see how he ask for a variance for what he is doing back there now. That would basically be rezoning the land commercial to me, like spot zoning. I would think we would have a good shot at beating him in court if they did that. The area is zoned residential now. I don’t know if it comes to a hearing if we would be wise to show up with an attorney?

 

[FarmerJ]

Take advantage of the idea that the business might just get a new variance and talk with your nbrs and a atty to see what it would take perhaps for your whole block to be rezoned for commercial type uses with the intention of selling.
Some towns are allways interested in seeing business expand, and it could become a opportunity for better resale conditions as well as for your town to benefit from it too. Any way its a suggestion to talk to your atty about.

 

[justalayman]

Depending on your zoning requirements, there may be a required percentage of abutting properties that have to agree to the variance. Hopefully it is 100% so just you could put the kabosh on this.

The other thing. The fact that all these houses are for sale could also assist you. While Farmer J does have a valid point, without knowing the area, this could be a good idea or a bad idea. Just can't tell from here.

But anyway. The owners of the houses for sale may be interested due to the fact that if the machine shop is terribly out of place, it will devalue their homes now. Lower sales price, more time to sell, fewer interested parties,, this could all help you.

Make sure all the neighbors are aware of what it may do to their property values and what it may do to the sale of their houses.

 

[shecky]

Disturbing Update

We learned some disturbing news yesterday. We talked to a neighbor who’s property is adjoining to the business behind us. She said she did file a complaint about the business several years ago. She was given time to come to a supervisors meeting and talk about the complaints. At the time she complained she was told by the zoning supervisor that there were no variances for his property. She was told that one of the cinder block garages was built in 1900 and because of that he had grandfather rights to do what he is doing. When you look up his parcel on the county records this is also what is stated. That one garage was built in 1980 and the other in 1900. This is clearly a fabrication. We spoke with our old neighbor who grew up in our house then lived in the house next door until 2 years ago. She sure there was never any buildings on the land before the first garage was built in the 70’s. A neighbor across the street who has owned the house for many years also confirms this. Now with our complaint they have found a variance. It all kind of smells of no good. The neighbor who filed the other complaint said that after she, did she saw the zoning officer come to the owners house and stay for about 2 hours. She strongly suspects that the tax records were altered and the date changed on the one garage as they were claiming he had grandfather rights and there was nothing she could do. This is still the same zoning officer we have today. We now a code enforcement officer who is involved and was not around when the original complaint was filed. All of sudden nothing is mentioned about grandfather rights but we are afraid they are just going to ram through a variance for what he is doing to take care of him again.
Any advice on this development.
Thanks.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

We learned some disturbing news yesterday. We talked to a neighbor who’s property is adjoining to the business behind us. She said she did file a complaint about the business several years ago. She was given time to come to a supervisors meeting and talk about the complaints. At the time she complained she was told by the zoning supervisor that there were no variances for his property. She was told that one of the cinder block garages was built in 1900 and because of that he had grandfather rights to do what he is doing. When you look up his parcel on the county records this is also what is stated. That one garage was built in 1980 and the other in 1900. This is clearly a fabrication. We spoke with our old neighbor who grew up in our house then lived in the house next door until 2 years ago. She sure there was never any buildings on the land before the first garage was built in the 70’s. A neighbor across the street who has owned the house for many years also confirms this. Now with our complaint they have found a variance. It all kind of smells of no good. The neighbor who filed the other complaint said that after she, did she saw the zoning officer come to the owners house and stay for about 2 hours. She strongly suspects that the tax records were altered and the date changed on the one garage as they were claiming he had grandfather rights and there was nothing she could do. This is still the same zoning officer we have today. We now a code enforcement officer who is involved and was not around when the original complaint was filed. All of sudden nothing is mentioned about grandfather rights but we are afraid they are just going to ram through a variance for what he is doing to take care of him again.
Any advice on this development.
Thanks.

Contact the county attorney with your concerns.

 

[shecky]

Update

Well here’s an update. The zoning officer copied all the papers she has on file on this business for us yesterday. There is one permit for the second garage that was built dated 1982. On the permit form there is a box for commercial use ( labor and industry permit ) that was not checked and marked N/A. Because of what neighbors have told us and tax records, there is good reason to believe this was obtained years after the building was built. There is no permit for the first building that was built. It turns out in 1993, about 4 years after we moved here, the zoning inspector at the time discovered the guy doing the tool repair in the second garage and that lead to them being served a cease and desist order. The guy obtained a lawyer and there are copies of some correspondence back and forth. The last correspondence is from the township solicitor at the time to his lawyer saying they expect he will not resume operations until a site plan is proposed and a permit for the business approved. There is nothing like this on record and nothing that says the cease and desist was ever dropped. So this guy has nothing that I can see giving him permission to do any of this.
Yet when another neighbor got a lawyer 2 years ago and went before the board of supervisors, she was quickly dismissed be told the business was a “pre existing non – conforming use”. She was never givin any of the info, or her lawyer, about the cease and desist from 1993. The owner was supposed to meet with the zoning officer this last Thursday – 5/18/06 and we were told by the zoning officer he did not show up. The zoning officer and one of the supervisors ( one who quickly dismissed the neighbors complaints at the supervisors meeting 2 years ago) are now supposed to meet with him on Tuesday 5/23/06 Why the meeting with him? Should he not be served another cease and desist order right now? We were told they found a variance for him when they were looking through the records. There is no variance – what they were talking about was the zoning officers report that lead to the cease and desist order. What gives here.