Dakota Hoarder I have some experience with the city or my case town board. Realize I have 22 acres and my two adjoining neighbors have 1000 and 800 acres. A flatlander moved in and complained That I was not mowing my front field adequately. This field is 700 feet from my house and abuts town road. I brush hog it to three times a year. I went to the Town zoning administrator; and basically said WTF! She said we had a complaint and by law we have to send you a letter to notify you. I would go talk to the zoning administrator and see what problem is nicely before getting too riled. My ZA came up took pictures of mowed lawn around house and said no problems
In MA, the Zoning Enforcement Officer is typically the Building Inspector. Trust me, they don't want to be there anymore than you want them to be there. Its just part of the job unfortunately. I can tell you you'll get more with honey than vinegar.
I never understood or heard of the three year plan until I started frequenting this site. In the past, I did good to just make it through the winter with maybe a face cord or two left for the following fall. Now, I think I have maybe 4 years ahead, not sure as I have lost track.
I am truly blessed that I live on a farm in the county, free from town rules, and free of neighbors, well, at least my closest neighbors are over 1/3 of a mile away, and that's too darned close for me, but doable. Sometimes I forget just how blessed I am. Sometimes it bad enough just sharing a fence line with someone, even a distant one. But in reality I get along pretty good with my neighbors because we don't interfere with each other's business, much.
I would definitely go the route of having the fire dept sign off on having 3 years worth of wood. Dry wood doesn't make creosote that would have them have to come to your house to put out a fire. Should be simple provided you present it properly.
I doubt the FD is going to provide anything in writing regarding the firewood. It could put the town at liability should there be a fire.
It wouldn't be somewhere to dry wood but if it is seasoned, a 53' dry van semi trailer would hold roughly 25 cord. Not sure what the going rate is for storage vans that are no longer road worthy are or if you have any place to park one though. Hillbilly me has even contemplated a bale elevator and cutting a door on the roof of an old 5000 bushel grain bin to have an enclosed pile of seasoned wood stashed.
Those old grain bins actually work well for drying cut lumber, the slotted floor & vented roof allow for air flow & being enclosed keeps the sun off the lumber. A person could turn the fan on for extra drying power but those can cost you anywhere from $10 -$25 a day to run. I like the way you are thinking though. A person could take a few rings off the bottom then just have 8’- 10’ side walls and just stack it full.
Not much. I called the city and the guy was kind of weird on the phone. He seemed really nervous or something, I could hardly understand him. I told him I’d need longer to get down to 6 cords. He said till May. He said he check in with me later, I’ll be shocked if I get a call. I’ve sold a cord or 2 and should have another cord going out this weekend. Neighbor also said I can stack some wood on his back lot line so when I get down to my 6 cords I’ll have some more space to stack. sounds like everything should work out OK! I’ll update if city guy ever calls me back!
I was served with a "Order to Remedy Violation" for "Non-conforming use of property as outlined in zoning code xxxxx". I wrote a letter to the head of the building dept, the mayor, the deputy mayor, and the town administrator with the entire background of the source of the complaints (my neighbor who used a racial slur on me and came onto my property yelling at me not to use a firepit....when they have a firepit in their backyard wtf)...... I will create another thread on this topic as it develops. Currently I am recovering from surgery so it looks like they will reach out to me sometime in June.
