Can a city all of a sudden impose certain zoning laws
North Dakota
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Posted about 1 month ago in Land Use / Zoning
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Several years ago, we purchased a home in a small town with no truck restrictions on the roads. Now the city wants to put up No Truck signs which would prevent us from reaching our property with the trucks(we have 4 semis now). No zoning laws. We have a shop in back of our house where we do oil changes etc. I have already spoken to the council to see if they will grandfather us in, but they will not. What can we do?
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Answers (2)Daniel P. Dalton
This attorney is licensed in Michigan.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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You can file suit before new ordinance is past seeking a judicial determination that you have a prior non conforming use, or, you can wait unti after it is passed and you are ticketed then file suit. The risk of waiting is the Court denying your request for relief at the outset, and having to go through 2 years of litigation before you can use your property again,
Anne L H Studholme
This attorney is licensed in New Jersey and 1 other state.
Posted 19 days ago.
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This answer is for informational purposes only, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and please note that no specific research has been performed and the law in your jurisdiction may vary. I recommend that you hire an attorney.
As I understand your question, the town has not attempted to zone your land, but has decided to limit the type of vehicles which may travel on the road whereby you access your property. I do not see this as a clear-cut prior non-conforming use case. They don't seem to be directly stopping you from doing the oil changes, but your problem is that you access your property with what sound like commercial vehicles, and the town wants to forbid those for your street. Traffic signs alert motorists to underlying ordinances. Find out the number and exact wording of the underlying ordinance. You may be able to challenge it as over-broad if it refuses to make exceptions for local access. You could also perhaps challenge it as "ultra vires" pseudo-zoning, since, in effect, it prevents commercial use of any properties along that stretch of road, but without going through whatever process North Dakota mandates for proper zoning ordinances.
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