HomeMy WebLinkAbout861444.tiff EXCERPT FROM BOARD OF
WELD COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING OF JANUARY 8 , 1986
TAPE $86-2
RE: ZONING AND BUILDING CODE
VIOLATIONS - OPAL FAY AND
DENNIS BURNS
COMMISSIONERS:
Jacqueline Johnson, Chairman
Gordon E. Lacy, Pro-Tem
Gene R. Brantner
C.W. (Bill) Kirby
Frank Yamaguchi
OTHERS PRESENT:
Assistant County Attorney, Lee D. Morrison
Planning Department representative, Keith Schuett
Planning Department representative, Bob Huffman
Deputy Clerk, Mary Reiff
861444
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: We will move to the next case.
MR. SCHUETT: The next case is violation number 801 : 85: 248 .
Property owner is Opal Fay and Paul W. Burns. The legal location
is , all of Section 18 , 11 , 56. Violation notice for zoning was
issued on November 8 , 1985 , for a mobile home in the Agricultural
Zone District of Weld County without permits. The staff has
submitted a written case summary and recommendation for the
record. The Planning staff recommends that the Board authorize
the County Attorney to proceed with legal actions on both the
Zoning Code and Building Code violations to resolve this matter.
Mr. Burns is here.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Okay. Mr. Burns would you identify
yourself, please.
MR. BURNS: Dennis Burns.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: What would you like to tell the Board
about this situation?
MR. BURNS: We would like to move it, but a little hard to do
at the moment.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Is this home occupied?
MR. BURNS: Yes. It would have been considered an accessory
to a dwelling. We have another house there. We had -- just a
little personal history, or whatever -- we had discussed moving
back into the other house, our family is getting larger. We
decided to put it off until this spring, and this came up. And
right now we'd move it if we could, but we can't move it at the
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moment. We can't disconnect the electrical because it' ll freeze
up, we can't get it out because the roads are in bad shape.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: You' re not living in it now?
MR. BURNS: We are.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Yeah, they are living in it.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: How long have you been in it?
MR. BURNS: Since we moved it on the premises.
COMMISSIONER LACY: How long ago is that?
MR. BURNS: I'd have to look. I don 't remember dates that
well , but. . .
MR. SCHUETT: The Assessor' s records indicate 1982.
MR. BURNS: If I may ask a question. If we move it from the
premises, or whatever, then that would take care of all the
violations?
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: If it' s not there , it won' t be in
violation.
COMMISSIONER LACY: The home that' s there now, you' re talking
about a house. . .
MR. BURNS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LACY: that' s not being lived in at the present
time?
MR. BURNS: Correct. We have our refrigerator and our
deep-freeze. . .
COMMISSIONER LACY: You have some things in there, in other
words?
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MR. BURNS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Okay.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: And you, like the other folks, have an
electrical hookup that was put in by the REA up there, or did you
do your own?
MR. BURNS: I did my own.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Okay.
MR. BURNS: I parked right by the pole. We did come in and
talk to them a little bit about it. We didn't know exactly how to
proceed, so we decided to wait until this meeting. But Keith
tells me I need a four-wire hookup, and I have only a three-wire
hookup. But, I can add extra wire above ground or something, if
that' s what it takes for the moment. We can' t disconnect it
because it will freeze up and burst the water lines, otherwise we
could just disconnect the electrical , if that was the problem.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Okay, the possibility of moving from, you
know, one area to the other - when are you contemplating this? Is
this a, you know. . .
MR. BURNS: We' re going to live in the house that is there.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Yeah, but I mean, when? Do you have any
thoughts on when this might be? Are you going to stay in the
mobile home until the weather, until snow, and so on and so forth,
then you would make your move into the other one?
MR. BURNS: Yes .
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COMMISSIONER LACY: Would you be adverse to having us
do. . .Well, you've already done an inspection on the wiring
situation. Would we have to make a change on that, or. . .
MR. BURNS: Well, he didn' t inspect it.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Not an inspection, but you said that it
needed a four-wire, is that, or whoever did it. . .
MR. HUFFMAN: In most cases , the newer mobile homes require
four-wire hookups.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Okay.
MR. HUFFMAN: And disconnects, separate disconnects. That ' s
the trouble with a lot of them. They' re hooked up the wiring by
somebody, and they don' t have the proper installation.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: Having three wires rather than the
four wires , does that create a dangerous situation, in your
opinion?
MR. HUFFMAN: Yes. That other fourth wire is for grounding
purposes.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: You have a neutral underground, as
your other two wires, right?
MR. BURNS: Otherwise, from the information that he gave me,
as he explained it to me , everything else qualified except that
extra wire, it' s close enough to the disconnects , and separate
disconnects . I have extremely heavy wiring, it will pass any
specifications. We could move it sooner if it was necessay, but
due to the weather, it was not moved. The County hasn' t kept the
road open too good lately.
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COMMISSIONER LACY: We weren't stuck, Dennis , we weren ' t
stuck, someone else was.
MR. MORRISON: What distance is there between the house and
the mobile home?
MR. BURNS: A very short distance, 100 feet, I guess.
MR. MORRISON: Some of the problems , if they weren' t
occupying the mobile home , some of the danger would be lessened.
COMMISSIONER LACY: I guess I would rather see you put in
that fourth wire situation, and then move out of that mobile home
when weather permits and conditions are so that you can do that.
If you' re willing to do that, as you said you were, then I' d
basically come back to the motion on the second, the accessory
that was being moved off of the other one, and giving an extension
of time with the, again, the electrical part of it being taken
care of and being permitted, or applied for, whatever. Well, that
isn't the way we went on the other one. We' ll have to do it. . .
MR. HUFFMAN: It was inspected.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Inspected is what it would be. So,
that' s my thoughts on it. I won't make a motion on this one until
there' s some more conversation.
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: We could give him ninety days, the same
as the other one?
COMMISSIONER LACY: That' s correct.
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: I' ll second that.
COMMISSIONER LACY: I didn't make that a motion, Bill. I
just was rehearsing. I said I wasn' t going to make a motion.
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COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Oh, I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER LACY: No, I wasn' t going to make a motion on
this until there was further conversation. If there is no further
conversation. . .
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Well, we can still discuss it after the
motion.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Okay, I ' ll move then. You understand
what I mean by that, Mary?
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: The motion is to grant an extension of
ninety days on these violations, with the agreement from Mr. Burns
that he will have the County inspect the electrical and will pay
the fee attached thereto.
MR. BURNS: Do I have other alternatives?
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: I think the other alternative , from my
perspective, would be that you vacate the mobile home and move
into the other home.
MR. BURNS: We would still have to supply electric power to
the mobile home to keep it from freezing, until such time as the
road was clear.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: If that home were not occupied, however, I
think the extended. . .
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Well, it would still be out of
compliance. . .
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: It' s still out of compliance in any case.
I mean , I'm getting real uncomfortable about this case-by-case
basis because there are always reasons why you should bend the
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rules. And once you start doing it, you've pretty well gone down
the primrose path, as far as I'm concerned. I think in the
previous case we had a situation where there wasn' t another viable
alternative for the people living there. In this case , you do
have another dwelling that you could occupy. And I guess my level
of comfort would be higher if you were occupying that dwelling,
even if the violation existed, it' s going to exist for ninety days
one way or the other. I'd rather have it exist without people
living there than I would with people living there. And, that' s
my concern, Bill.
MR. BURNS: Well then, if I was to tell you we would, within
the week, or next week, or whenever it was, to have it vacated,
would that help?
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Then I think we could continue for a
period of time. The violation would still exist, but we could
give a continuation.
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: I don' t think we want to lead Mr. Burns
to believe that. . .he has to understand that it will have to be
moved, or you have to have a permit even for a storage.
MR. BURNS: Yes , yes.
COMMISSIONER LACY: It would give him some time to move in.
MR. BURNS: We have property in Nebraska and that' s what
we' re going to do is, use it for storage until such time as we can
sell it. If we vacate the property, is the electrical hookup all
right the way it is, or would I need. . .
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CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: It' s not all right, but it would. . .
MR. BURNS: Like if we disconnect it and run an above-ground
cord over there. See you have to have something to run. . .
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: I think what we' re saying is, that if you
don' t occupy the mobile home , if people are not living in it, the
violation doesn't go away, just because you moved out, but the
danger to you, and consequently, our responsibility for that, is
somewhat diminished because there' s not the threat of loss of
life , as there would be if you were living there. What we' re
saying is , if your intent is to remove the mobile home as soon as
the weather allows, then we' d like to see you move into the
permanent home that you' re going to occupy. We' ll let the
violation ride for a period of time, yet to be established, 30 ,
60 , 90 days, something like that. We will not require you to have
an inspection during that time. However, if, at the end of that
time, the mobile home is still there, then we will proceed with
the legal action and follow through on all of the things that we
would be required to. My stating. . .
COMMISSIONER LACY: That' s not my. . .
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: That' s not your motion, but that' s the
alternative that we' re offering you.
COMMISSIONER LACY: I think that' s well stated. I would
withdraw my motion.
MR. BURNS: I believe I could do it.
COMMISSIONER LACY: Do you withdraw your second, Bill?
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COMMISSIONER KIRBY: That' s fine.
MR. BURNS: I would take the second alternative, or whatever
it would take.
COMMISSIONER KIRBY: The main house you have is livable
enough so you really can. . .
MR. BURNS: Yeah, it' s going to need some work in the future,
but we feel that it would be better to, at some future date, build
onto it than it would be to keep the mobile home and go through
the permits and stuff. Our family is getting too large for the
mobile home. We never did, the old house was used mostly as
storage, but we never have moved completely out of it. It still
was used for. . .you know, they were just adjoining old homes. At
one point in time , we wished we had just connected them together,
because everytime you want something out of the deep freeze, you
have to run over to the house.
COMMISSIONER LACY: I would move--your statement. You know
allow, you know, and. . .Now the only thing I would add to that, or
would want to be clarified, would be a time limitation on moving
from the mobile home to the house.
COMMISSIONER YAMAGUCHI: Just one week.
COMMISSIONER LACY: I 'd say a week would be very tight.
We' re at what, the eighth day of January. . .
COMMISSIONER YAMAGUCHI: Sunday you' re going to be walking
out there in a tee-shirt.
COMMISSIONER LACY: First day of February.
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COMMISSIONER YAMAGUCHI: No, that' s too long.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: I' ll second that.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Mr. Burns indicated they can move in a
week, and that' s three weeks, Gordon.
(Inaudible conversation)
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: Mr. Burns , what would be a reasonable
amount of time for you, that you could live with, that you think
would be realistic?
MR. BURNS: It' s more a question of what you have to have.
We do have ice , a couple of inches of ice on the ground.
Transporting the stuff from one house to the other, it' s not far,
but it is treacherous because of the conditions. And the weather,
it might get worse before it gets better. We can go ahead and do
it and have it done with, if that' s what need be, we would do it
that way. The ice on the ground is not going to go away until it
warms up, and that' s just something we have to work with.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: Your motion was the statement by the
Chairman, with a two week moving period and a ninety day extension
on the removal or the correction of the violation. Is that
correct?
COMMISSIONER LACY: That' s correct. And when we say
correction of the violation, we' re talking about the building
permits , the zoning permits , and so on and so forth. That' s what
we consider as the violation.
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COMMISSIONER KIRBY: Okay, so that could be accomplished by
having the mobile home moved completely out, without going through
the whole process?
COMMISSIONER LACY: That' s right.
COMMISSIONER BRANTNER: I' ll second.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: The motion is by Gordon and seconded by
Gene to extend, or to continue this decision on this violation for
ninety days, with the provision that the mobile home not be
occupied within two weeks , that would be the 22nd of January, that
the mobile home no longer be occupied at that time, and that if
within ninety days , the mobile home is still on the property, and
the permits have not been applied for, and therefore the violation
still exists, then the staff will be instructed to proceed with
legal action. Discussion on that motion? All in favor say aye.
Whereupon all Commissioners voted aye.
CHAIRMAN JOHNSON: Opposed? The motion is carried.
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