IL Proposed Legislation

Legislation Legislator Seeks to Declare All Inoperable Vehicles Junk Another day, another Inoperable Vehicle law. Rep. Dan Brady's bill would strike out a single line in the Illinois Counties Code, Section 5-12002--one which exempts cars more than 25 years old from the junk vehicles law. HB0025 has been floating around the Illinois legislature for almost a year and was still in the rules committee when the legislature adjourned. However, it is still live and may yet see action for the 2006 session. Currently, the statute reads: "The county board may by ordinance declare all inoperable motor vehicles, whether on public or private property, to be a nuisance and authorize fines to be levied for the failure of any person to obey a notice received from the county which states that such person is to dispose of any inoperable motor under his or her control. However, nothing in this Section shall apply to any motor vehicle that is kept within a building when not in use, to historic vehicles over 25 years of age, or to a motor vehicle on the premises of a place of business engaged in the wrecking or junking of motor vehicles." The revised text would strike out the phrase "to historic vehicles over 25 years of age." We agree that some distinction between a junkyard and hobbyist is legitimate, but this isn't it. The six-month window granted by this law doesn't even cover one Midwestern winter.

- By David B. Traver Adolphus Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike
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Another stupid law to write legislators about.....

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Here's the law at present:

(55 ILCS 5/5.12002) (from Ch. 34, par. 5.12002) Sec. 5.12002. Inoperable motor vehicles. The county board may by ordinance declare all inoperable motor vehicles, whether on public or private property, to be a nuisance and authorize fines to be levied for the failure of any person to obey a notice received from the county which states that such person is to dispose of any inoperable motor vehicles under his or her control. However, nothing in this Section shall apply to any motor vehicle that is kept within a building when not in use, to historic vehicles over 25 years of age, or to a motor vehicle on the premises of a place of business engaged in the wrecking or junking of motor vehicles. As used in this Section, "inoperable motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle from which, for a period of at least 6 months, the engine, wheels or other parts have been removed, or on which the engine, wheels or other parts have been altered, damaged or otherwise so treated that the vehicle is incapable of being driven under its own power. "Inoperable motor vehicle" shall not include a motor vehicle which has been rendered temporarily incapable of being driven under its own motor power in order to perform ordinary service or repair operations. (Source: P.A. 86.962.)

This law shouldn't exist at all.

Reply to
Brent P

Where I live, it would be a GOOD thing. Maybe IL has the same problem. There are junk cars around every corner. Many of them have been wrecked and in some moment of misguided brilliance ol Bubba had a notion that he could fix it himself in the back yard and save a pile of money. Thus, he has created an eyesore. Often these vehicles are grown over in the lush greenery and somewhat hidden because - good ol Bubba tried to fix his own lawn mower too and it is parked next to the car that he drug home. Oh, and his cousin's dead truck, and that old school bus that he was going to convert into an RV and that dilapidated dog house, last year's plastic swimming pool and the plastic play ground equipment that his children outgrew 10 years ago.

Of course, there are cars that are being built, really, but from what I have seen at least 90% of the cars out here are truly dead and should be recycled.

There aren't even any REAL wrecking yards out here. Seriously. I had to go all the way to MS just to get parts for the pickup. I think I am missing a true business opportunity but I have no idea how to run a wrecking yard. Really no desire either.

I say if IL wants to haul this crap off, LET THEM

Reply to
SVTKate

But Kate, where you live they have such a law... it REQUIRES you to have a collection of junkers in every yard. The redneck Bureau of Tourism got that one passed after receiving complaints from out of staters who were having a hard time spotting real rednecks. : 0 ) Fortunately for you, they don't enforce it. LOL : 0 )

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike

Not that I've seen.

The closest was a bodyman who was restoring cars on the side. The county was going after his 'to do' vehicles so he had to scatter them. I wish I had the money to buy the green '67 FB he had just finished when I was there to see one of the cars he had to get rid of.

Trouble is, it doesn't work that way. It's about the neighborhood busy body who doesn't have anything better to do making trouble for other people.

Reply to
Brent P

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike

Well Brent, not having been there and seen that, I can only speak from my own personal experience. I have a neighbor, on the other side of the fence in back of my pond. This is not the first time I have seen this in the country, just the first time it has leaned on my fence. Since we bought this place he has added half a dozen cars and now a dead trailer from a tractor trailer rig. Right up next to the fence. He must have

6 acres down there, but he parks his shit in my face. His property, granted, but STILL. he has a dozen other vehicles on his place and the ONLY thing that keeps his crap freom being an eyesore from my porch is the brush that we have encouraged next to the fence.

He's a pig... if I had a way to encourage him clean it up, I would make the call. He just parks them, he isn't restoring them. Evidently his folks used to run a wrecking yard and he seems to think that he needs to create one on his property.

Oh, and as far as the busy body. Has it occurred to anyone that they guy working on "to do" cars, ought to park all that dilapidated junk in an industrial area, at a SHOP instead of a residential area? If people wanted to live next to a body or mechanics shop, then they would be intermingled in residental areas, not seperated away to avoid the smell, noise disruption and general nuisance of such a thing. Shops are a mess, there is no way to avoid it, they do not belong next door.

Ok, you have my point of view. Common courtesy goes both ways, they guy with the shop AND the busy body.

Kate

2O|||||||O5 Liberty
Reply to
SVTKate

Kate, I suggest taking some photographs of his junk and then visiting your local Planning Office. In our area there are very strict local laws regarding storage of inoperable vehicles on private property. A chat with your local zoning enforcement officer might find he is in violation of one or several zoning ordinances. If so, they will ticket him and eventually make him comply. Also, to run a business in a residential area usually needs governmental approval by means of a Special Exception or rezoning. If he is running a business illegally then they will shut him down real quick. If you want some more advice on this I'll be happy to chat with you about it via email. Let me know.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

Hey Michael, Thank you for all good information that in normal circumstances would be applicable. HOWEVER we live in an unincorporated area. It has it's pluses and minuses.

The minus, well, it's not so bad, we can barely see the junk from our side now.

The plus? I can walk down by the pond and target practise any time I want to. Now that I think of it, he may have moved that trailer there BECAUSE we shoot down there.

Hmmm... I'll have to let him know that the targets are in the opposite direction.

Reply to
SVTKate

But she has to be careful.... if it isn't domestic disputes, it's neighbor disputes cops hate. Remember she's living in that part of the country where the ol' Martin and McCoys attitude is easy to get started and hard to put out. Heck, half of them are still fighting the Civil War. I hate to see kate in trouble for popping a cap on the guy.... Oops.... why them thar bullets done gone past muh target and punched holes in them ol' wrecks...... : 0 ) LOL

Here, I can file a nuisance suit in small claims court for a neighbor who is just a general nuisance... doesn't mow lawn, junk cars, etc., and if it's bad enough to impact property values, we can all get together and file a class action type suit. Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike

The beauty of using the Planning Office is they will operate without her being directly involved.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

Most counties, towns and cities have zoning or codes in place to deal with land uses. You don't have to be in an incorporated area. If you can live with it then that is good. If you can't, a little research might be in order.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

Not totally accurate.... I'm sure you will agree that the community makes a lot of difference. Old money can beat new money. Old friendships outweigh new neighbors. I can see that right here. In one community someone may dam and divert a creek and nothing will ever get done about it, while right next door, the weight of the world will come crashing down on someone else for doing the same thing.

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike

This was years ago, and the guy didn't have much space. He had maybe 3 cars outside. and that filled his available space The rest were in his garage. The are was unincorporated.

When I've worked on cars I've always at least mocked them up so they looked like they could drive off. When I replaced the timing chain and distributor on my maverick one janurary when I was living in an apartment. I would even shovel out the parking place and make it look like the car had gone in and out.

When a neighbor bought a '73 mustang convertible some woman complained that I now had 3 cars and that put me over the 2 car limit. Of course it wasn't mine so she was out of luck.

Thankfully the garage at my house is large enough to hold three cars (although one is on dollies sideways)

The work can be done without causing problems for others. I just don't like outright bans because they tend to just give the busy bodies power to make trouble with people who aren't a problem.

Reply to
Brent P

Ok guys WOAH! I am NOT the busy body neighbor here.

We have look hard to strain to see his junk through the trees and brush. He doesn't shoot my cat, I don't shoot his dogs, his wife/sister is a moron with a PHD and we have only spoken twice in two years (when their dog went missing) which suits me just fine. His house completely out of sight and unless you are down by the pond and looking in that direction through the brush you cannot see his mess.

I have no intention of messing with the guy unless his mess becomes my problem and at this point it isn't. I was using him as an EXAMPLE of how one man's trash can be another mans nuisance.

Reply to
SVTKate

See, YOU have the right idea. Keep it clean and keep it civil. I agree, if stuff doesn't begin to look like a disaster, why make waves.

Reply to
SVTKate

Well then IMO, you need to just suck it up. You bought land in an unicorporated area without zoning laws because you wanted the freedom to do what you wanted with your property. So did your neighbor. You don't like what he's done with his property, too bad. That's part of the package. He's exercising his property rights. Just because they are differant than yours doesn't make him wrong. I like you Kate, I think you have a good head on your shoulders. But here I think you're dead wrong. Your property rights end at your fence line.

Reply to
.boB

That might be but if he is breaking the law they will have to address it if Kate demands it. As for damming and diverting creeks just get the Army Corp involved. All flowing streams are classified as "Waters of the US" and therefore falls under their jurisdiction. Believe me, they will make life miserable for them and the Corp does not care who you are. ;)

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

We ended up having to go EPA and ACE for the creek. The guy is gone in the middle of the night, though he left behind a crappy trailer and a junker.

As far as they will "have" to >Spike wrote:

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be.... Children are obscene but should not be heard Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

Reply to
Spike

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

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