[Don of the Dead]

Time to drive the new nighbor out!
Flaming dog poop on the door step, doorbell rang at 3am, raodkill left on thier cars hoods.
Keep it up till you see a sign marked "For Sale" in their front lawn.

 

[Don of the Dead]

Tell them you're taking it down then open for buisness Halloween night.
If they fine you fight it in court.

 

[aznraverkid]

Sorry to hear that happening to you guys. But who says you need a permit? If you haven't looked into it further, you should call the permit department and verify if you do need such a permit. But like Don of the Dead said, put it up the day of Halloween. I'm sure they have better things to do then to fine you. Your neighbor is just jealous because you're getting all the attention and he won't this Halloween.

 

[Muffy]

I really cannot imagine what it must feel like to be told what to do with a situation like this. Man I would be on the trail house to house having people that are in favor sign a petition. I also say....if ya gotta give money to a lawyer.....might as well be for a worthy cause.......& this is a worthy cause.

If someone did this to us it would make me think of all the families that come here on Halloween night, & now how they all look forward to it & enjoy themselves so much.........yup......those people would help me fight a situation that was gonna shut us down.

Good Luck to You!

Muf

 

[OMGDan]

That is a real shame. It looks really awesome and everyone seems to love it.

I too would open up for business on halloween night, but it looks like it'd be way too much work to throw together in a few hours. Although technically, the only things they're probably claiming you need a permit for is the fence, because i know some up-tight neighborhoods don't agree with fencing off your land, and the fact you allow the general public inside your house.

So, you could take down the fence, leave everything else up, and claim you won't be allowing people inside, just to look. That way the crybaby neighbor who reported you still has to look at it all, hasn't really won anything, your in your legal rights, and then come 6pm on the 31st, whose to say that fence didn't magically appear and oh? are those your friends coming over to your hosue? boy you sure do have a lot of friends coming over. You get where i'm going with this?

I really don't think they have much over you, like someone said you should look into it.

And if you know personally which neighbor it was, well i'm not saying what you should do but, well, i'd get something done, thinking they own the neighborhood when they're the new kids on the block. Should have come and had a word with you first.

 

[CraigInPA]

They're probably upset because your haunt appears to have a roof. Once you put a roof on it, it becomes a "structure". Structures open to the public have to have fire exits and the like. You also need permits to build structures in most municipalities. I saw no fire exits, marked exits, fire extingushers, etc... in your pictures. I also saw narrow doorways. They're probably upset because you've built a structure not to code, without a building permit, and have created a potential fire trap. Solution: remove the roof and it's not a structure.

Are you collecting money for your haunt? It doesn't appear so on the vid. But, if you are, you need to stop. That puts you into the "commercial" class, and they can shut you down.

The fence needing a permit is complete BS. The only reason they could claim that is if you're putting up a "boundry fence". Are you within 6' of the street, in the assigned public right of way? If so, just move it back onto your lawn a bit!

Not a lawyer, just married to one.

Craig

 

[kelbelblue]

Omg! do ya'll cover the entire outside of the houses in something?! that is awesome!!

Sorry about the situation.... every neighborhood has one of those neighbors that manage to ruin everything.

hope you get to work it out!

**that psycho thing that pops up from the bed would scare the crapola out of me!**

 

[Spookilicious mama]

That looks awesome! I cant believe that one family is causing all this trouble for you. Its a shame really because It looks like the neighbors really enjoy it. Dont give up! We cant let those types of people win. My goodness I have a 10 foot crypt in my yard and it took a long time to make, I cant imagine what I would do if someone complained and I had the city tell me I had to take it down. Well maybe I do know what I would do....but I cant put that in writing
Great job!

 

[magicmatt]

If you have a large enough garage, you can build something in there. No need to put up a roof on the maze. The roof that is on the garage was already approved, so there should be no problems.

 

[GatorBlood]

the maze is so cool. I like how you and your neighbor decorate. That's great! Hope all works out for you. Keep us up to date on what you do!!

 

[Haunted Neurons]

That is such a shame. That is way I would never ever live in a neighborhood with a homeowners association. They do have their place to keep the neighborhood from declining, to a point that is. But beyond that you get a few people on a power trip and fine you if you dont take your garbage can back from the curb in time or something just as stupid. Thats just a bunch of BS.

Keep up the fight!

 

[Scottish Scarer]

people can be such arseholes !!! Someones enjoyment is another persons hate, It seems like a case of, the neighbour doesnt enjoy halloween so neither are you.

Personally, I would just burn his house down !! (can I say that??)

 

[Spookzilla]

xoexpireu,

Every year this same issue comes up where some one like you puts up a haunt for the TOT's and some annal retentive neighbor calls out the building inspectors, zoning board, and or rolls out the all inclusive neighborhood covenants. You could do as some suggest just ignore the this neighbor and the city and try to make a go on Halloween night but something tells me you'll be looking at a big fine, closed down, and this prick neighbor smiling. I think the solution for people like yourself that have to put up with this kind of b.s. is to fight fire with fire.

First and foremost is to really get to know all your local town politicians VERY well. The mayor the city councilmen, become their friends, and while you at it get to know your local zoning board supervisor. Drop in his office tell him what your planning to do for the KIDS and ask for his suggestion. There is in old wise saying you should learn "you catch more flies with honey then vinegar". The last thing while your getting an education in city government and your local laws use them, not only to put on your haunt, but against this ignorant neighbor for any small infraction of the law he committes, remember were all not perfect and sooner or later he too will screw up. Though honest the best revenge is putting on a bigger and even better haunt next year and personally inviting these morons down to visit.

 

[ice111302]

i would put a large sign on my lawn with the reason that i had to tear down my annual haunt theat everyone likes to attend and place the name ,address and phone number of the crybabies that were responsable..maybe these people will learn the error of their way.....

 

[DetroitGrass]

Lawyers sound expensive. This would encourage me to a get a building permit. Once you know all the rules, it would be hard to challenge you. And getting a builders permit is probably cheaper. I think the key though is fire exists and width of hallways.

I would put up a sign telling all the neighbors who ruined your fun. If they come to expect it, he would become very unpopular with the community.

 

[Don of the Dead]

i would put a large sign on my lawn with the reason that i had to tear down my annual haunt theat everyone likes to attend and place the name ,address and phone number of the crybabies that were responsable..maybe these people will learn the error of their way.....

I'll 2nd this.

 

[icetross911]

That totally sucks. Go figure, there is always some jerk that will try to ruin things like Halloween, Christmas, etc... Some people just don't understand the joy that you bring to the kids and even many of the adults in the neighbor when it comes to your decorations for Halloween. We ran into a similar situation a few years back where one neighbor threw a fit because one of our lights from our graveyard pointed directly at his house. He went around the neighborhood the week before Halloween with a petition, asking the others to sign it, as he was taking it to the town to have us shut down. Needless, to say everyone else love what we do and no one signed the petition. The mayor of our town even stopped by (asked use to adjust the light) and asked how he could promote our house the night of Halloween. All the neighbor had to do was come over and tell us, it was not that hard to adjust the lighting.

The point of Halloween decorations is for the kids. You have all our support here on halloweenforum.com and I am sure the support of your neighbors will make this Halloween as great for you as you make it for them.

 

[Mangler]

Just tell them you are Pagan/Wiccan and say that you are decorating for one of your religions holidays (Festival of Samhain)
and ask the Inspectors (City Government) if they really want to prohibit your free exercise of religion (First Amendment) on your private property

 

[krvp]

i would put a large sign on my lawn with the reason that i had to tear down my annual haunt theat everyone likes to attend and place the name ,address and phone number of the crybabies that were responsable..maybe these people will learn the error of their way.....

I would not go this route, it can and most likely will land you up in court.... You could land up recieving a letter from there lawer for for Defamation of character!!!!!!!