NeilTheCop
Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico
I live in a rural agricultural area and all the surrounding properties are zoned residential/agricultural. about 2 years ago we started getting woken up by trucks at about 5am, just a few at first but gradually increasing to about 10 to 15 each morning. these trucks were coming from a neighbors house about 500 yards away. I contacted planning who said that as far as they were concerned no trucks should be operating out of the residence but they would investigate. They did and found that the person was indeed operating a trucking company out of his house so they told him to stop. He then applied for a zoning variance so under New Mexico law he could continue operating his business while the application was heard. The application was denied but a temporary 12 month variance granted so he could find a new place for his trucks. 12 months later we are back at the commission because he though that the temporary variance meant he just had to keep quiet and had made no attempt to find a new location. During this 12 months he has expanded his trucking fleet to about 20, put in flood lights and erected a shelter for the trucks about 120 feet long and 40 feet high, all without permits. The application for the variance was then formally denied by the planning commission, so he appealed.
Now I find it is not an appeal but a brand new application to completely rezone his property to industrial. I'm sure the commission will again deny the application as it doesn't conform to the master plan and the planning and zoning officers has formally stated that it's spot zoning, but I'm dreading the prospect of another year or so of trucks waking us up in the early hours while we go through the appeal process again.
So my question is twofold. Can you make an application to rezone a property to enable you to continue running an illegal trucking company (13 years so far) and, can essentially the same planning application be made ad nauseum by simply changing the title on the application?
I live in a rural agricultural area and all the surrounding properties are zoned residential/agricultural. about 2 years ago we started getting woken up by trucks at about 5am, just a few at first but gradually increasing to about 10 to 15 each morning. these trucks were coming from a neighbors house about 500 yards away. I contacted planning who said that as far as they were concerned no trucks should be operating out of the residence but they would investigate. They did and found that the person was indeed operating a trucking company out of his house so they told him to stop. He then applied for a zoning variance so under New Mexico law he could continue operating his business while the application was heard. The application was denied but a temporary 12 month variance granted so he could find a new place for his trucks. 12 months later we are back at the commission because he though that the temporary variance meant he just had to keep quiet and had made no attempt to find a new location. During this 12 months he has expanded his trucking fleet to about 20, put in flood lights and erected a shelter for the trucks about 120 feet long and 40 feet high, all without permits. The application for the variance was then formally denied by the planning commission, so he appealed.
Now I find it is not an appeal but a brand new application to completely rezone his property to industrial. I'm sure the commission will again deny the application as it doesn't conform to the master plan and the planning and zoning officers has formally stated that it's spot zoning, but I'm dreading the prospect of another year or so of trucks waking us up in the early hours while we go through the appeal process again.
So my question is twofold. Can you make an application to rezone a property to enable you to continue running an illegal trucking company (13 years so far) and, can essentially the same planning application be made ad nauseum by simply changing the title on the application?
