Thanks for finding it. Just pasting the relevant subclause:
> D. Parking in rear and side setbacks. Operative boats and large pickup campers, motor homes, recreation vehicles, utility trailers, and vacation trailers shall be allowed to be parked or stored in a required rear or side setback in a residential district only if screened on the side and front by a six-foot-high fence. In these instances, the provision of adequate light and air to a neighbor’s window shall not be obstructed.
I was going to say...if you want to repaint a fence in my HOA neighborhood, the board needs to approve it if it's not on the list of pre-approved colors.
This would have never flew with an actual HOA with rules but the gullible internet is sucking it up.
Perhaps this is not about sight as much as about proximity. I'm guessing parking, walking or driving next to a boat could be not as safe as compared to e.g. a parked car.
It’s easy to laugh at the silly US HOA stories but here in Ireland (and the UK) people have had similar issues with building bike storage units in front of their homes.
I think people laugh at US stories more because they are the ones harping on about Freedom all the time. There might be 150+ free countries in the world but nobody talks about it more than USA.
America runs on the principle of localism, which basically means that laws should be passed at a local level to deal with their own specific issues. Hence the United "States". This is compatible with some areas having stricter HOAs or laws.
The real constant is that people get very possessive about their neighbourhood and are keen to defend it from any change or deviation from the perfect image. To the detriment of everyone else's property rights. I do wonder whether this is mostly an Anglosphere thing, though. Edit: oh and Germany, see rest of thread.
I think it's the opposite. They buy a house in a certain environment, and they'd like the house and environment to remain the same (and not be devalued). It's not exactly a hard to understand perspective, even if you disagree with the level of enforcement.
That's one big factor why I don't have an e-cargo bike. Live in town, in a detached, Shops are <1km away. I want an bakfiet style e-cargo, but I've got no place to store one.
Can't get a decent sized bike down the alley, it's difficult to pull one through the house to the shed, and the entry hall already has a tandem in it, which is wide enough to step around.
OTOH, I could get a trailer and park it in the front, and that would be totally legal.
Solution: buy an old, rusty, barely functionnal van, paint it the most provocative way for the conservative people while still abiding to the law. Boobs, penises, vulvas, LGBTQ+ slogans, drawings of Bin Laden with huge neon colors, whatever. Park it in your driveway if you have one, or on the street in front of your house if you can. With an amovible ramp, here is your bike shed.
Now after a few months you can apply for a permit to have a bike shed, maybe the concil will be more tolerant.
People have been tolerating thousands of ugly eyesore vehicles that do not match at all with the architecture but crack down on small, well integrated bike shed. This is just hypocrisy and jealousy by people who refuse to evolve to a new, better world.
We've had similar struggles and something like a babboe or urban arrow won't fit.
I was 95% close to ordering a Libelle https://leichtlast.de/
The non-motorized unsplittable version weighs around 20kg, the splittable slightly more, but it is splittable.
Ireland has appallingly draconian rules, which the councils enforce extremely unevenly.
I did a self build there and it was like every meddling old church biddy in the county got to have a say on what kind of siding I could have, which kind of trees I could have, and whether my fenestrations were appropriate. I'm still annoyed they couldn't comprehend the value of eaves.
Although, you also learn that some rules are OK to break. You can park your car on any pavement in the country without fear of a fine.
To be honest these bike storage (at least those in the three links you gave) are fuglier than fugly. It's kinda a disgrace to the human race that such monstrosities are even conceived and built...
But then people do wear Crocs, so what do I know about taste.
I really don't mind the green ones, in particular when the bikes are used as an alternative to a second car, which to my is significantly more "fugly".
The government in the UK (I know less about Ireland, but I think it is similar) might stop you building something but they do not do things like tell you what to grow in your garden and to what height the lawn should be mown, how you park etc.
I have a friend that did this with garbage bins. Their HOA told them garbage bins couldn't be left out. They constructed a wooden enclosure, which has a painting of garbage bins on the outside.
(The painting looks slightly nicer than the actual garbage bins.)
Someone recently told me a pleasing story. Guy in HOA erects American flag. HOA complains and demands flag be removed. Attorney friend suggests taking advantage of (I think) a Carter era federal law that encompasses several admirable freedoms, eg clothes lines and zero impact yards.
Guy removes flag and erects clothes line with tacky garments from thrift store. HOA cannot prohibit this. Guy compromises by offering to replace flag with slightly smaller version. HOA reluctantly capitulates and clothes line is removed. Flag flies.
Is the purpose of the fence to hide the boat or is it to provide a physical barrier? Since this is not a HOA rule but at city of Seaside rule[1], I'm guessing the latter. And in that case I suppose the painting is a good solution for everyone.
> Operative boats and large pickup campers, motor homes, recreation vehicles, utility trailers, and vacation trailers shall be allowed to be parked or stored in a required rear or side setback in a residential district only if screened on the side and front by a six-foot-high fence. In these instances, the provision of adequate light and air to a neighbor’s window shall not be obstructed.
This is the law in question. It's likely because it's considered unsightly.
It’s not an order for one person to hide their boat, it is a general rule applying to all recreational vehicles in the city. Usually the rule allows you to park a recreational vehicle in a garage, or in a car park provided it is enclosed on at least three sides, or in the back yard of a house provided it is behind a fence, etc.
HOAs are just usually snobbery of people not wanting to live next to poor people. They don’t want old cars, unrepaired cars or “ugly paint” on a house next to them. It’s mostly middle and upper middle class, as the really rich can afford to live in an area that the cost alone prevents this.
Readit News
"When the town of Seaside, California ordered...." and "When the town of Seaside, California ordered..."
The city sees it as a violation of their municipal code; specifically: https://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Seaside/#!/Seaside17/Seasi...
I'm not a fan of HOAs; but, sometimes they're not to blame.
> D. Parking in rear and side setbacks. Operative boats and large pickup campers, motor homes, recreation vehicles, utility trailers, and vacation trailers shall be allowed to be parked or stored in a required rear or side setback in a residential district only if screened on the side and front by a six-foot-high fence. In these instances, the provision of adequate light and air to a neighbor’s window shall not be obstructed.
This would have never flew with an actual HOA with rules but the gullible internet is sucking it up.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2023/06/...
https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-threatened-ps11-million...
https://dublininquirer.com/2023/05/24/while-cracking-down-on...
Can't get a decent sized bike down the alley, it's difficult to pull one through the house to the shed, and the entry hall already has a tandem in it, which is wide enough to step around.
OTOH, I could get a trailer and park it in the front, and that would be totally legal.
Now after a few months you can apply for a permit to have a bike shed, maybe the concil will be more tolerant.
People have been tolerating thousands of ugly eyesore vehicles that do not match at all with the architecture but crack down on small, well integrated bike shed. This is just hypocrisy and jealousy by people who refuse to evolve to a new, better world.
We then settled for a Muli https://muli-cycles.de/en/
I still sometimes think the Libelle would have been cooler but the motor is stronger on the muli and I'm very happy with it too.
I did a self build there and it was like every meddling old church biddy in the county got to have a say on what kind of siding I could have, which kind of trees I could have, and whether my fenestrations were appropriate. I'm still annoyed they couldn't comprehend the value of eaves.
Although, you also learn that some rules are OK to break. You can park your car on any pavement in the country without fear of a fine.
Footpath parking makes me unreasonably angry.
But then people do wear Crocs, so what do I know about taste.
The government in the UK (I know less about Ireland, but I think it is similar) might stop you building something but they do not do things like tell you what to grow in your garden and to what height the lawn should be mown, how you park etc.
(The painting looks slightly nicer than the actual garbage bins.)
Guy removes flag and erects clothes line with tacky garments from thrift store. HOA cannot prohibit this. Guy compromises by offering to replace flag with slightly smaller version. HOA reluctantly capitulates and clothes line is removed. Flag flies.
[1]: https://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Seaside/#!/Seaside17/Seasi...
This is the law in question. It's likely because it's considered unsightly.