I agree with Ian, it's your land and sod what anybody says. It's your TOY train- ask the city if the 4 year olds need a driver's license for a bike or battery powered car, perhaps the 6 year olds should get a pilot's license for flying kites and paper airplanes, I mean after all fair is fair and we must be consistent with regulating our TOYS. Remind the locals that TOYS don't need permits, if they don't understand what a TOY is, then that is truly a problem.
I am not telling you what to do, so don't quote me on this. If it were me, I would build my garden railroad anyway with the clear and unmistakable warning to all neighbors that if you took me to court I will embarrass you in front of the judge and ruin whatever name you thought you had. The newspaper would love to print who you are and what you've done to take a toy away. Stay off my property and stay out of my private business unless I invite you in. I hate with every ounce of my being these HOA's and covenants.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
I personally would not take any notice of what they had to say about utilising the easment, it is your land and you can do as you please, providing it doesn't interfere witht the easement. However should any problem occur that will need acess to said easement, then you will be required to remove whatever is on to allow said access.
This is not a statement of law, more a good sensible general approach to easements in general. It certainly is not for me to say as, laws do change from area to area; state to state and certainly from country to country.
Rgds Ian
I disagree with their assessment on wiring -- did you tell them it would be low voltage DC and not regular household wiring? The track wiring should be no different than putting Malibu lights along a driveway, and they don't require zoning approval or electrical inspections.
As for the setback requirements, that should not apply to a garden railway either because the trackwork is only temporary.
I live in a very expensive classy area which has many covenents, however none of these seem to affect me and in any case many of these organisations are abit like a toothless lion.
Ian
In a lengthy discussion on the Model Railroader Magazine forum a couple of years ago about whether or not an indoor model railroad layout increases or decreases the value of property when it comes time to sell, the consensus opinion was that it decreases the resale value.
A couple of realtors involved in the discussion opined that the chances of finding a buyer who was also interested in model trains was very unlikely, and even if they were interested they probably wouldn't like your layout and would be thinking to themselves how much it was going to cost them to tear it out and haul it to the landfill.
One realtor said they actually lost a sale because there was a G-scale layout in the back yard and the prospective buyers had absolutely no interest in it and the seller had already moved out of state and was not available to remove it.
I had an issue a while back with the tax man. He said the garden railroad improved my property value by 40G, I told him he was nuts. They were thinking that a garden railroad was the kind you rode on. In the end it was resolved when I explained that the train was just a toy and not an amusement park ride.
The garden part of the railroad should increase the desirability of your property as landscaping. The railroad part of the garden is a toy. I know a lot of us are very particular about the "toy" vs. "model" train argument, but this would be a great time to angle the "toy" part and point out that lots of kids in the neighborhood also have toys in the yard such as swing sets and play forts.
Explain to the powers to be to leave your toy trains alone and worry about important things. If it ever did go to court (highly unlikely) it would be a matter of one neighbor complaining that the other neighbor had better toys ( "he's got a toy train and I don't so I want you to make him get rid of it" or something to that effect). I don't think many judges would waste too much time listening to adults arguing over a toy train.
Zoning codes differ by jurisdiction, but even so there should be nothing that prohibits an outdoor railroad as long as no high voltage electrical wiring, plumbing, or permanent building construction is involved. The low voltage used by our trains does not fall within the National Electrical Code.
An outdoor railroad would be regarded purely as a temporary structure here in Arizona and would require no zoning approval from anyone.
Of course, if you go overboard and add floodlights, high-wattage sound systems, etc, then you would probably run into zoning issues and incur the wrath of neighbors because of the noise and light pollution.
The City of Sierra Vista Planning and Zoning Commission publishes a free homeowners' guidebook that outlines what is and is not permitted, and your local zoning officials might have a similar publication available if you check with your local city or county administration.
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