2 Car Garage Workshop Trouble

[Nome Fittizio]

Hi,

Long time lurker first time posting. Kind of a long post....

I ran into some trouble with my town today. I live in NJ. I have a 2 car garage which I converted into my wood shop. I put in a wood burning stove (without a permit) and some neighbor complained about the smoke. So the police came to simply take a look to make sure everything was OK. They assured me there was nothing wrong. 2 days later (today) I get a visit from the building inspector. He asked me to pull the proper permits so there would be no issues. I went to city hall and filled out the application. The inspector then informs me that he spoke to the fire marshal. The marshal was questioning why I had a wood stove in my garage. So the inspector tells him its because i have a "hobby" shop. The marshal asks if I can fit a car in the garage. The inspector tells him no (because of all the work I'm doing, it was kind of messy). The marshal says that its a zoning violation! He says a 2 car garage has to have the ability the have a car in it. Obviously I can clean it up and make room to actually fit a car. But that will take up a big portion of my garage. We never ever keep the car in the garage! So my question is, has anyone ever heard of a zoning violation that says you have to have space in a garage for a car?

I'm now waiting for the permits to go through, of course I had to fill out an application for the wood stove, and the insulation that I started doing, and then the inspector says I will need one for the sheet rock.... oh and of course an electrical permit since I had to move some outlets...... damn neighbors!!!

Thanks for reading,
Peter

[Bill Conerly]

You have my sympathy. Consider moving to Montana.

[Andy Giddings]

Or move to Texas - never had to do any of that. When I've got a project on, there is no way the cars can go back in the garage. Never a word from the neighbors or the city. There are plenty of people that never use the garage for cars around here and I guess most of the rest of the US - sounds fishy to me unless you are running a business

[Bruce Page]

Or move to New Mexico. My cars haven't seen the inside of a garage in 25 years, I couldn't park one in there if I had to. I had a carport installed to keep them out of the rain & snow.

[Matthew Hills]

I've never heard of this type of zoning requirement related to contents of a garage.
Most of the garages in our neighborhood couldn't fit a car -- due to boxes, exercise equipment, and spare furniture.

Which city in NJ? do they have a copy of their zoning requirements online?
Maybe this has to do with the size of a garage (must be able to accommodate a car), which is more of a structural/design issue, rather than the contents of the garage, where temporary items may take up the space instead (?)

Good luck with the neighbor.

Matt

[Mike Hollingsworth]

...... damn neighbors!!!

Wood burning stove with no permit? I'd be concerned if I were your neighbor.

But for advice:
1) electric heater
2) keep the car in for a couple weeks, then less and less.....
3) check to see if there are other hooligans in your town doing the same.

I find very few municipal workers that look for work.

[Mike Henderson]

Around here there are lots of garages that are stuffed full of "stuff" (boxes, toys, exercise equipment, and other things) and you can barely walk through the garage, let alone get a car in. I've heard of HOA's with rules that cars have to be parked in the garage, but never a municipality with such a law.

I'd bet if you could see the inside of the garages of some of your neighbors there would be no room for a car.

But a wood burning stove is a problem. The smoke and smell from it advertises its presence and you're sure to have problems. As others have recommended, go to some other type of heater - gas or electric. You'll be warm and on one will be the wiser.

Mike

[Bryan Lisowski]

I have never heard that you need to be able to get a car in the garage, but NJ has enough stupid rules it wouldn't surprise me. In some respects, you may have gotten off easy if they are just making you file for the back permits, because usually they can fine you a great deal of money.

[Wayne Cannon]

That's actually a pretty standard requirement in every state in which I've lived; however, I'll bet it's never enforced unless someone complains. Your wood stove just started the dominoes falling, unfortunately. I've never heard of it being enforced against "temporary" stuff -- only against permanent modifications, like walls converting garages into rooms. Unless he's a real busy-body, your neighbor probably doesn't care about your car & garage space, so you can probably go back to using the entire space soon.

[roger wiegand]

In all, a cautionary tale of why it's sometimes better to follow the rules in the first place. Chances are good you'd have easily gotten your permits in the absence of a complaining abutter and raising the hackles of the building department and then would have been able to just say "sorry, it's legal" to your neighbor.

[Steve Friedman]

Peter,

I'm in NJ and live with the absurd local ordinances, but can't imagine that even NJ could regulate how clean your garage is. If you have to be able to fit a car in a garage, I would guess that the majority of homeowners who have kids are in violation. I have no doubt that there might be a rule requiring you to be able to get a car into the garage in order to be able to call it a garage, but the fact that you have other stuff stored in there shouldn't be an issue. I assume they are referring to situations where people convert a garage into living space and, therefore, can no longer get a car in.

I also wonder what town you're in and how connected your neighbor is.

Just saying.

Good luck.

[Charles P. Wright]

I've not heard of that as a municipality, but own of my parents neighbor's [they think the real estate agent for the bank trying to sell the house across the street] complained about cars parked on the grass (Brookhaven, NY). They had a permit to convert their garage to a room, so the 3 cars didn't fit in the driveway. The code enforcement guy said that their needs to be a designated area for parking. So the solution they came up with was some bricks on the side of the area where the car had killed the grass, so that it was separated from the lawn.

[Brian Holcombe]

What if you drive a Fiat?....see where I'm going with this?

[Art Mann]

I am just glad I don't live in a place that has such an overbearing local government.

[Mike Wilkins]

You have my sympathy for having such a nosey neighbor. If it is possible, just abandon the wood stove option and get a good 240 volt electric heater and hang it from the ceiling. No smoke, no inspectors, no wood piles, just heat in the winter.

I have always heard it is not a good idea to butt heads with the inspections department. Unless it is something obvious, you will lose every time.