Size apparently matters!

[Terry Bond]

Not sure how common this is but we've seen it occurring more often recently - first was a guy who collected antique fire engines.  Nice, popular and well received, except one neighbor complained they were not appropriate in a residential community parked along the street.   So, the guy had to move them to a friends farm.  Now, we have a story in the daily newspaper about a Veteran who decided to collect military vehicles -  big ones.  Although properly licensed as antiques, these vehicles were too big for the neighborhoods they were in.  Apparently zoning laws take precedence, and it doesn't matter how patriotic, kid-friendly, or whether it's antique or not.   Seems odd that we have two incidents so close together and am wondering if there is a trend elsewhere.  It could bring unwanted scrutiny to our hobby.

Terry

[George Smolinski]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A neighbor has an RV that's worth $750,000 & parks it in his driveway. Although it's a very nice RV, it's an eyesore by any standard when it's parked there. I wouldn't want it there, would you? Army tanks, half tracks, deuce & a halfs, etc. are neat to look at, but not in a residential neighborhood. Fire engines are no different. I think the zoning precedent started because of inconsiderate "collectors" storing their crappy, unrestored cars in their driveways, side yards, back yards, carports, with or without the blue tarp. Anywhere but in a garage where they belong. Perhaps you should use the rule of thumb: If I want to own this/these toys, I should properly house them out of view in consideration of my neighbors.

And another thing shut your yappy little dog up too.

Done for now.

[F&J]

 

 

One easy solution....  MOVE to a friendlier area.

 

That is what I did 10 years ago.  I had been living in one of the oldest homes on a road in a now-snooty town filling up with wanna-be yuppies.  There was a huge new McMansion development across the street, and 4 years of living near these phony people, I'd had enough.  They never dared say a word to me, but I felt like I did not belong, even though my home was one of the first on the road.

 

I now live on a slightly noisy/busy State secondary road, but I'm surrounded by "normal-old fashioned" folk.  Many people on this road have home businesses, either legit or under the radar.  Nobody is bothered by the locals.  Everyone gets along fine with neighbors, always asking eachother if they need a hand, (and it's pretty rare in many towns, to even know or talk to your neighbors).  I'm 65 and for the first time ever, I feel like I fit in, and I don't even worry when a huge rollback shows up with a customer antique car.  Heck, the neighbors come over to see what kind of car or truck it is.

 

"Mind your own business" was a logo on an early New England American coin, back in the 1700s.  or...look at New Hampshire motto of "live free or die:"

 

The HOA people belong in those developments, clustered together with eachother.  They can stay the "...." out of my neighborhood.

 

 

and before you think I must have junk cars all over, NO...I have 3 outbuildings here, and can fit in 12+ fullsize cars/trucks.  I don't leave anything outside in this climate.  It's MY right to own what I have, and none of YOUR damn business if you happen to see something towed in here. 

 

I see the poster above does not like looking at his neighbors RV, or hearing a dog...  then MOVE , and stop thinking you can dictate other people. 

 

.

[Guest Skyking]

22 minutes ago, George Smolinski said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A neighbor has an RV that's worth $750,000 & parks it in his driveway. Although it's a very nice RV, it's an eyesore by any standard when it's parked there. I wouldn't want it there, would you? Army tanks, half tracks, deuce & a halfs, etc. are neat to look at, but not in a residential neighborhood. Fire engines are no different. I think the zoning precedent started because of inconsiderate "collectors" storing their crappy, unrestored cars in their driveways, side yards, back yards, carports, with or without the blue tarp. Anywhere but in a garage where they belong. Perhaps you should use the rule of thumb: If I want to own this/these toys, I should properly house them out of view in consideration of my neighbors.

And another thing shut your yappy little dog up too.

Done for now.

 

I like the part of the yappy dog!!!!!  That's most annoying.......

[George Smolinski]

F&J

You wrote "and before you think I must have junk cars all over, NO...I have 3 outbuildings here, and can fit in 12+ fullsize cars/trucks.  I don't leave anything outside in this climate.  It's MY right to own what I have, and none of YOUR damn business if you happen to see something towed in here. 

 

I see the poster above does not like looking at his neighbors RV, or hearing a dog...  then MOVE , and stop thinking you can dictate other people. "

 

With your vehicles stored in your outbuildings, you made my point about if you own the toys, then store them inside. Yes it is your right to own what I have, nobody said it wasn't. I wasn't picking on you, because I don't even know you. Perhaps you should reread my post when you are in a calmer mood and with a more open mind as to what exactly I'm saying in it. My intent wasn't to offend YOU personally, but to give a viewpoint of someone, not me, that doesn't have the same interests in cars or other toys. In a nutshell if your gonna own it, then have the proper building to store it.

[lump]

This is an issue you will NEVER find widespread agreement on. I spent a lot of time working to fight the "Clunker Bills" about 15 years ago (with direct support from SEMA, and my fellow ARMO members), and discovered many horror stories from BOTH extreme ends of this subject.

 

At one end of the spectrum, some people felt they should be allowed to move into a neatly manicured neighborhood, and then run a combination semi-pro body shop and junkyard full of partially-dismantled automobiles and household stuff (one guy also had piles of used toilets and sinks, etc, lying right out in the open, plus school buses turned on their sides, etc, inside a city limit, and was looking to fight anyone who disagreed with him.) Some of them really did make nuisances of themselves...even to neighbors who also liked old cars. One fellow told me that he could not understand why little old ladies living next door would object to him welding, pounding, and grinding on steel frames and body panels outdoors in his yard in the middle of the night, only 25 feet or so from other peoples' bedroom windows. On the other extreme, I personally raised support to fight a bill that was proposed in California which would forbid ANY work on ANY car in most neighborhoods...even inside a closed garage. Storage of ANY non-licensed non-operational automobile in the community would have been strictly forbidden. The proposed law would even have allowed the government to come to that home when the owner wasn't there, then break into the garage and seize any car they might find in non running condition! (Of course it was easy to rally opposition to this proposed bill, and it never even came up for a vote. But there are people who do think that is the way things ought to be). 

 

As a car collector myself, I always worry about the "slippery slope" every time someone proposes a new law or ordinance against "junk cars on private property." Yet in my own neighborhood, where I am an elected official, we constantly battle with a few eyesore properties, where homeowners have several junkers outside in their front or side yards,(not very old vehicles at all) where they try to part them out one piece at a time. They leave engines and transmissions lying on the ground exposed to the weather, wrecked fenders propped against the front of their houses, open containers of used oil and antifreeze lying around, broken windshields in heaps,etc, etc, etc. 

 

My point is that BOTH sides of this issue have very good points from their own perspective. AND, both sides' can be very wrong when carried to extremes. Most of us realize that you must draw a line somewhere. But it's not all that easy to delineate exactly where such a "line" ought to be drawn.

 

If anyone can come up with a simple solution to finding where to "draw that line," (which the vast majority of all folks would agree with), speak up. There are hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of this issue waiting to hear it. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by lump (see edit history)

[joe_padavano]

25 minutes ago, lump said:

If anyone can come up with a simple solution to finding where to "draw that line," (which the vast majority of all folks would agree with), speak up. There are hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of this issue waiting to hear it. 

 

The fundamental problem is that common courtesy and common sense have long vanished from public interactions.  Sadly, one need merely drive in rush hour traffic to see this.

 

The same people who claim it is their right to grind and pound away at three in the morning in a residential neighborhood are the first to complain when a neighbor's odoriferous cooking wafts through their window or unwanted music blares late at night. What ever happened to treat others as you would have them treat you? 

[avgwarhawk]

In my neighborhood the HOA has a rule for commercial trucks.  Only to be in the neighborhood if a contractor is working on a home.  Other than that, if you own  the home and have a panel van with commercial business on the side and associated tools handing off it can not be parked in the neighborhood.     

[Bhigdog]

Which is exactly why I live on 100 acres at the end of a 700' driveway. Nice rural area with nice houses but I can do whatever I want without bothering anyone or vice versa. Fire up my forge with stinky soft coal? No problem. Have chickens including a early rising rooster? No problem. Sit out side and smoke a cigar naked? Not a bit of a problem. Leave a parts car outside while I cut it up? Sure thing.

I realize everyone can't do it this way but if at all possible I surely do recommend it....................Bob

[avgwarhawk]

Just now, Bhigdog said:

Which is exactly why I live on 100 acres at the end of a 700' driveway. Nice rural area with nice houses but I can do whatever I want without bothering anyone or vice versa. Fire up my forge with stinky soft coal? No problem. Have chickens including a early rising rooster? No problem. Sit out side and smoke a cigar naked? Not a bit of a problem. Leave a parts car outside while I cut it up? Sure thing.

I realize everyone can't do it this way but if at all possible I surely do recommend it....................Bob

 

 

As I get older the more I envision myself finding a place similar!  Tired of the rat race and continual building to the point of overcrowding.   

[F&J]

15 minutes ago, lump said:

My point is that BOTH sides of this issue have very good points from their own perspective. AND, both sides' can be very wrong when carried to extremes. Most of us realize that you must draw a line somewhere. But it's not all that easy to delineate exactly where such a "line" ought to be drawn.

Exactly...  We as a nation of over 300 million, we sometimes end up with "extremes".   In my State, and likely many others, some towns made it "illegal" to hang laundry outside, even in backyards.  You have to imagine what our Founding Fathers that wrote our Constitution, would think about that!  What on earth is the matter with some of this thinking?

 

39 minutes ago, George Smolinski said:

With your vehicles stored in your outbuildings, you made my point about if you own the toys, then store them inside. Yes it is your right to own what I have, nobody said it wasn't.

Speaking of not wanting to look at your neighbors RV;  the home slightly across the road from mine; last summer a large 5th wheel travel trailer showed up in their driveway/side yard.  Then there were wooden steps built/set up to it.  It sat there at least 6 months, and I now think it was visiting relatives to the very elderly woman that owns the home.  I think she is quite ill, as I did see EMT ambulances there maybe 3 times.  I do not know that woman,(she is never outside to talk with) but I imagine there was a legit reason someone stayed there for her?  I had no issue with that RV, for any reason.  It is HER land, not mine.  I'm sure she might feel exactly the same about my rights as a landowner/taxpayer.

 

If a person chooses to want to live in a quiet showplace area, then find a HOA type area.  Or, if you are more than willing to mind your own business of what your neighbors have in view, or what they do in their property, then move to THAT type of area.  Seems like a no-brainer to me, and that is exactly why I chose to move where I am now, leaving the HOA type mindset behind.

 

As a child, there was and still is, a tiny single-engine airstrip (legal) that was built in what was only vast farmland.  Over the later decades, farmlands were sold off for housing developments, and then constant complaints from these new homeowners trying to get the airstrip closed...?  DUH, move next to a pig farm, then complain about the odor?  We need more common sense these days, rather than complaints.

 

After 65 years on earth, it really feels great to me, that I finally feel like I belong someplace, and am not causing some hardship to others.  I can't stress enough about not spending one's life living where you don't feel like you belong or feeling angry about your surroundings.   It's really nice knowing that your neighbors hope you are not moving away  (mine mistakenly did, when I was just cleaning out my building closest to their house).  he,he

 

 

[Joe in Canada]

I live 15 Min. out of town on a side road where it is nice and quiet. Good folks on both sides and we can see each others houses after the leaves fall. You can not see my house from the road either and a 300 acre corn field across the road. Not bad lately but at one time I would get request's to store cars, house trailers, car trailers, parts cars, cars and even stored firewood at one time. I have a 24 ' car trailer behind the barn that I was asked to store over the weekend I think 14 years ago and is still there sinking in the ground. He now uses it as his personal storage facility and I see him on occasion when he wants something out of it sell. That one is coming to an end. I store my sisters extra family used pickup over the winter behind the barn. She is in a upgraded  subdivision and has a paved driveway that will hold at least eight cars. But people complain about too many vehicles in her drive and they are all licenced.  I have not in years store anyone's car inside as one time my dog locked in the barn by someone and spent his day standing in a convertible with sharp claws looking out a window. 

 It can get out of hand real fast as people are buying bigger boats and camper trailers today than in the past and the driveways are getting smaller.

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

 Sit out side and smoke a cigar naked?

 

Uhhh.......too much information. Not at all in keeping with "Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler."

[Bhigdog]

20 minutes ago, 31 Caddy said:

 

Uhhh.......too much information. Not at all in keeping with "Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler."

 

I never said it was a "pretty" sight. ............That said: My house is on a slight rise and has a stone wall along the front. My dogs often sit on the wall and survey the fields below them. You can just see in their faces as they patiently look over "their land" they feel in control. They are the Grand High Exalted Mystic Rulers.

I can dig it.................Bob

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, Bhigdog said:

Which is exactly why I live on 100 acres at the end of a 700' driveway. Nice rural area with nice houses but I can do whatever I want without bothering anyone or vice versa. Fire up my forge with stinky soft coal? No problem. Have chickens including a early rising rooster? No problem. Sit out side and smoke a cigar naked? Not a bit of a problem. Leave a parts car outside while I cut it up? Sure thing.

I realize everyone can't do it this way but if at all possible I surely do recommend it....................Bob

 

Exactly.  When my wife and I were looking for property in Northern VA, the number one criteria was largest possible acreage.  Of course, she thinks that the land was for her horses... 

 

I called it "buffer zone". 

[F&J]

A local guy here with 2 stock Model A's...so it's on topic...

 

He lives in an honest to goodness very old, very tiny cabin.  Wood heat, no insulation, but does have electricity.  Back 15 years ago is when he moved there after a divorce, he told me then; "yea, last night I was sitting out in the outhouse with a beer in one hand, and a nice cigar in the other...listening to the spring peeper frogs in my pond.....and I said to myself 'It don't get no better than this'  " 

 

well, he got a girlfriend again, so now has an indoor self composting toilet.   Not sure about what he has for bathing now, but when single, he had a claw foot cast iron bathtub under the porch roof, heated with a woodfire under it.

 

we don't all need to live the same.  Yes, the Model A's are in outbuildings....and he does hang laundry outdoors  

50 minutes ago, 31 Caddy said:

Sit out side and smoke a cigar naked?

 

[Joe in Canada]

Here I Ontario a female student took the government to the supreme  court  for getting charged for walking topples on the street. She won so the woman are now equal with the guys going topless and maybe we may all be sitting around naked smoking cigars together some day if you call it progress.

[Bhigdog]

1 minute ago, Joe in Canada said:

we may all be sitting around naked smoking cigars together some day

 

Yup, along with a cold beer. Ain't it grand........................Bob

[Joe in Canada]

2 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

 

Yup, along with a cold beer. Ain't it grand........................Bob

The girls my prefer wine.  Are we getting off topic?? Someone mentions beer and the whole tread starts to fall apart.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[Bhigdog]

9 minutes ago, Joe in Canada said:

Are we getting off topic?? Someone mentions beer and the whole tread starts to fall apart.

 

In keeping with the theme of the thread, and to go even further down the garden path, as I'm usually wont to do. Around my hang gliding buddies if something is especially fun it's described as being " titties and beer". ...............Bob

[auburnseeker]

A little space was my criteria when we bought this house. Problem is my wife wanted to live in town or very very close to.  That makes it a pretty tall order when you don't have unlimited funds. 

I was fortunate enough to find this place on 7 + acres.  It's backed by a power line then 25 undeveloped acres the other neighbor bought as a buffer.  I'm hopefully soon going to try to buy atleast a few to guarantee a buffer as our house is built toward the back of the property.  We have a little view, a nice house, a major supermarket less than a 1/4 mile away from the end of the driveway and the school is about 1 mile away.  The trees, layout and hill give us nice privacy.  It also came with a nice unfinished 28 by 50 Garage which I'm now finishing and enough space to almost be able to hide a 60 by 72 Garage I'm getting approval for now. 

I wish we had 100 acres but this isn't too bad.  Plus we are probably 1/2 mile or so from the interstate ramp but the positioning limits road noise from it. 

You can't see the garages or house from the road either courtesy of a curved 600 foot driveway. 

[Bhigdog]

Sounds great. I started with 8.8 empty acres 45 years ago but was fortunate in that I was able to buy up contiguous land as it came available. I couldn't afford to buy it now. It slowly continues to get built up around here. The last 42 acres, right next to my house, I bought 15 years ago and was going to be developed but the farmer sold it to me knowing I wanted it to remain undeveloped. I'm pretty well buffered now................Bob

Edited March 27, 2017 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[alsancle]

This is over my brothers a few years ago after dinner.  Suburban residential neighborhood.  To my knowledge nobody complained 

 

 

[charlier]

I live in a Township that enacted an ordinance 25 years ago to deal with "motor vehicle nuisances". This ordinance goes into great detail to describe a "motor vehicle nuisance" with 19 details of what it constitutes and under what conditions a homeowner may have such a vehicle on their property. This ordinance was prompted by a resident of the township that basically turn his property into a junkyard. IIRC, this person had 30+ vehicles on the property that found their way there and never left. Back then (maybe 25-30 years ago) the township tried to get this person to clean up the property and deal with the animals, etc that were living in the vehicles and other problems. It was one costly situation for the township and a living nightmare for the neighborhood. That is what prompted the township to draft and enact this ordinance (Referred to as the "Junk Car Ordinance"). Back then I heard about the ordinance before it was passed and it appeared to be a decent compromise that as an Antique Vehicle Owner I could live with.

[8E45E]

17 hours ago, George Smolinski said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A neighbor has an RV that's worth $750,000 & parks it in his driveway. Although it's a very nice RV, it's an eyesore by any standard when it's parked there. I wouldn't want it there, would you? .

It wouldn't bother me at all!  It MUST be pretty damn nice to be worth $750,000!! (Maybe worth more than the house of the driveway it's sitting on??)

 

I've seen a LOT worse sitting out on front LAWNS.

 

Craig

[JACK M]

Unfortunate that the $750,000 must have broke the guy and he cant afford to cover it.

 

The city is moving out my way. I have been going to meetings and the like for years to fight it.

My property is now backed up by one of those neighborhoods that don't even let any car be parked outside over night.

The homeowners are bound to a certain roof slope and color as well. NO OUT BUILDING of any kind allowed. And you better keep up your lawn etc.

These people moved in behind me and want to tell me how I should live. Incidentally they are not in the city, they all live on one acre and have huge yards and are served with city water.

I get complaints all the time for the dog and chicken noises. I had one neighbor gripe about some goats I had eating branches from the trees that are hanging over my fence.

I sold two acres to my daughter and they are building a huge shop behind their house. Now they are complaining that its objectionable. WTF?

I just tell them to move over a few blocks across the canyon if they want to live in the city.

They even complain to the sheriff that the deer crap in their yards. Their own dogs aren't even allowed to.

None of these neighbors like me very well, but if their car wont start they will all of a sudden be my friend. Go figure.

Oh yea, they don't like the dirt bikes much either. County sheriff just tells them that its life in the country.

[8E45E]

7 hours ago, JACK M said:

Unfortunate that the $750,000 must have broke the guy and he cant afford to cover it.

 

 

I doubt that it's that he cannot afford to, but a city regulation on 'oversize' garages. 

 

YES, you can have a motorhome on an RV pad here (provided the property is large enough to accommodate it, and have a back alley as it can't be out front). 

 

NO, you cannot build an oversize structure for it where I live.

 

Craig

[JACK M]

I couldn't live there.

[John_S_in_Penna]

22 hours ago, Bhigdog said:

Which is exactly why I live on 100 acres at the end of a 700' driveway. Nice rural area with nice houses but I can do whatever I want without bothering anyone or vice versa....

 

If you've driven long distances around the country,

or flown over it, you see that there are HUGE swaths

of countryside, even places where there would be 

no neighbor within 5 or 10 miles.  You could buy 500 acres

for the same price that another person buys a vacant lot

in a prestigious neighborhood.  Out West, ranches of 

5,000 acres aren't unusual.

 

Country living can be great for those who enjoy it.

Hunt, fish, maybe even start a concealed and well-organized

junkyard to preserve the old cars that might be lost otherwise---

Edited March 28, 2017 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

22 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

YES, you can have a motorhome on an RV pad here (provided the property is large enough to accommodate it, and have a back alley as it can't be out front). 

NO, you cannot build an oversize structure for it where I live.

 

Good architectural design can use clever visual tricks

to make a large storage building look residential and

blend in well with the house.

 

I've designed a 5000-square foot storage building

that looks like a 3-car garage.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2017 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Bhigdog]

I can understand someone moving into an established development or community with established rules and expecting everyone to abide by them. I cannot understand someone moving into an area and expecting everyone else to think and act as THEY now desire. There was a sleepy little grass airfield near me. Been there for years. Some guy buys some land off the end of the runway and complains and sues until the lady that owns the field finally says " F**k it " and sells the land and it now has a development on it. My only hope is that the guy that complained about a few flights a week now has noisy obnoxious new neighbors that he can't stand.

Forty two of my acres abut a development. The acreage is in a Federal conversation program that allows mowing only every third year. I get calls from people complaining that weed seeds from my ground are landing in their lawns. WTF????

Just to get this back on topic. If you live in any kind built up area expect to get hassled from neighbors, the "authorities", or just plan cry babies and busy bodies about your cars. There is no way around it other than surrounding your self with as much buffer as you can afford and being pleasant but aloof. The less everyone knows about you and what you do the better off you are.

You guys are the only ones that know I sit in my yard smoking a cigar and drinking beer stark ass naked..... Mums the word......................Bob

 

 

Edited March 28, 2017 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

39 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

You guys are the only ones that know I sit in my yard smoking a cigar and drinking beer stark ass naked..... Mums the word......................Bob

Careful when you do that.  I just saw an article and photos of what google caught people in the act of doing.  Some of it was funny,  some of it mighty embarrassing and some of it was blurred out on purpose.  

You wouldn't want to be just a blur would you?

 

[Bhigdog]

I'd only be concerned if they caught me on a chilly day..........................Bob

[Jim Bollman]

On 3/27/2017 at 3:28 PM, F&J said:

After 65 years on earth, it really feels great to me, that I finally feel like I belong someplace, and am not causing some hardship to others.  I can't stress enough about not spending one's life living where you don't feel like you belong or feeling angry about your surroundings.   It's really nice knowing that your neighbors hope you are not moving away  (mine mistakenly did, when I was just cleaning out my building closest to their house).  he,he

 

Exactly my feelings when we made the big move 2 years ago.  Took the realtor a day or so to figure out we wanted a small house and land not a big house and a lot but he found us our piece of heaven.  We only need 7+ acres of heavily wooded land to have complete privacy and 650,000+ acres of National forest as our back yards. Add a 1200' drive off a dead end road and you have bless.

Don't spend anytime naked on the porch smoking a cigar but I do shoot off the back porch on my private shooting range and no one complains(one of 3 or 4 private ranges in the neighborhood).

Just to keep on topic I now have my shop in a 26X50' drive-in basement just steps away, that stays between 60-70 degrees year around with no other heat or air added, just a dehumidifier. 

Yes some of my neighbors have RVs and junkish stuff in plain sight but it doesn't bother me a bit.

[auburnseeker]

The guy directly across from the end of my driveway,  built a new bigger garage probably a 4 car with high ceilings 12 foot? in the past few years.  Before I bought here,  but still has a shelter a bunch of stuff and a 37 Pontiac sedan as well as a 1950? Ford 2 door that he leaves outside most of the time (for several months at a clip) Maybe years.  He also has some bigger equipment,  an excavator and I think a dozer outside.  Doesn't have much lawn,  but alot of sand for a yard.  Doesn't bother me one bit.  Of course I would prefer he keep the stuff inside,  just so I don't have to watch it go to He!!.  It's a shame to see stuff just deteriorate.  I hate leaving my well used chipper outside and that's covered and hidden.  It won't be outside once the new shop is up though.  Nothing will. 

Other people probably complain though,  because it's right on the corner of an intersection and his property isn't heavily treed.  He also has a driveway out both sides so not aot of place to hide anything from view. 

[8E45E]

17 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

Good architectural design can use clever visual tricks

to make a large storage building look residential and

blend in well with the house.

 

I've designed a 5000-square foot storage building

that looks like a 3-car garage.

 

 

Yes, one does see a lot of that on rural, countryside estate homes, where the tall workshop/storage building is made to appear as a two-story with windows above fake overhead doors, where the real oversized opening door is at the one end. 

 

The city goes by intended use and square footage in relation to the rest of the dwelling, lot size, etc.; not how well you can disguise it to make 'fit in', although there are a few extreme instances where a city development officer got "charmed" into granting a permit, but its almost impossible.

 

Craig