Originally Posted by
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
You're in New Jersey. Either the inspectors were very bored, the city/township/county's coffers are really empty, or they're giving you "an opportunity you can't refuse." About 20 years ago, I could've gotten a name, of someone who could get you a name, and .... no more permit hassles. I don't have such contacts anymore, but you very well may, and not know it. Graftsmen are far more common these days than craftsmen.
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