worker bee wrote in
:

Interesting story just developed over the past two months that I
figured I'd let you know about in case it happens to you.

For about five years, I've been in an unfriendly situation with my
nearest neighbor (over past events with the kids getting into trouble
and barking loose dogs).

Then, the past two months, no less than 5 inspectors came to my
property to check for hazardous conditions due to 'anonymous'
complaints.

The first was the fire marshall who was told I had 'large gasoline
tanks' on the property. Turns out, fuel containers of fewer than 60
gallons each are exempt from fire marshall permit needs (a permit
application alone, he told me, is over $750).

That didn't strike me as too weird until the zoning guys dropped by.
They said someone complained about an improper 'accessory structure'
used to house gasoline. Turns out any accessory structure that is six
feet from the property line meets zoning requirements, so he left me
alone.

It started to get weirder when the building inspector showed up for
the same reason (don't these guys talk to each other?). He too left
empty handed. Apparently an accessory structure only needs a permit if
it's greater than 120 square feet and if its highest point is greater
than 14 feet tall.

I knew someone had it in for me when, a month later, my wife called me
at work to say there was a guy snooping around the property without
even knocking on the door! She called the police and then called me!

Turns out, it was a hazmat inspector who had received a complaint
about a 'primary container' leaking with no 'secondary containment' in
place. He left before I arrived but told my wife that there was
nothing he could or would do unless it was actually leaking as there
are no storage regulations for private property other than you can't
actually leak gasoline into the ground.

He did suggest a 'secondary containment' of an oblong horse trough
though.

I rushed home early from work to find both the police and yet another
inspector talking to my wife in the back yard. This inspector was from
the air quality management district. He said that organic fuel gas
tanks less than 260 gallons were exempt from vapor recovery & pressure
venting requirements, so he left before the cop finished asking
questions.

The cop seemed amused by the whole story - but he asked a LOT of
questions about the gas cans lying around.

Turns out that you can't transport anything heavier (yes, heavier)
than 500 pounds of "fuel" in a vehicle (not counting the vehicle's
gasoline tank itself) which he said was 62 gallons of gasoline (#11160
title 13 California Code of Regulations & 32000.5a California Vehicle
Code). He also mentioned that 172.504c Title 49 of the code of Federal
Regulations requires a placard if you carry more than 1,000 pounds of
gasoline.

Since I'm only carrying about 50 gallons, I'm exempt from that too!

All in all, an interesting story. Now, I do have a sense of humor so I
have to figure out how I can get my neighbor back.

Have you ever engaged in these type of neighborly wars? Any good
ideas?


What other kind of crap you have laying around the estate? Is it one of
those eyesore **** strewn all over the place properties? Is this gas
thing just an item to address a much bigger issue?

Additional pile of **** or not, I wouldn't want all that frikkin gas next door to
me either. And I don't care if

#11160 title 13 California Code of Regulations & 32000.5a California Vehicle Code) - 172.504c Title 49)

says it's OK.