Boat trailers in Cape Coral (house, zoning, cost of)

[rikoshaprl]

I know you can't keep a boat trailer in the driveway. Can you keep it on the side of your house, even if it is still visible from the street?

[mnpedwards]

The official word: City of Cape Coral > Government > Project and Building Information > Code Compliance

[rikoshaprl]

Thanks. I found it. You can't park the trailer on the side of your house, only in the rear.

".6 Boats and boat trailers. It shall be unlawful for any person to park, store, keep or maintain, or permit to be parked, stored, kept or maintained in front or side yard of a single or multiple-family residence, or on a vacant lot in a residential area, any boat or empty boat trailer, either or both. A boat, a boat on a trailer, or an empty boat trailer may be parked on the rear yard provided the same is not allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, or grass or weeds allowed to grow around or under it to a height exceeding 12 inches, in which event it may then be declared a nuisance and the owner charged accordingly. An empty boat trailer may be parked at a launching site during the period of time that the boat is launched therefrom for a single voyage and while in the process of loading or unloading the boat and/or trailer. A boat, empty boat trailer, or a boat on a trailer may be parked entirely within the confines of a garage or carport meeting the requirements of this ordinance"

[vetty95]

What is the code for storing a small utility trailer in the back of my house

[Compression]

I believe pretty much the same as a boat trailer, travel trailer, project car etc.

Best rule of thumb explained to me long ago.......

Keep it in the garage, or.......

Keep it behind the house, where it cannot be seen by code enforcement from the street, and keep it clean enough that your neighbors wont complain to code enforcement, and you shouldn't have to worry about hearing from code enforcement, or.......


Move to an unincorporated area of the county.


CN.......

[rikoshaprl]

The rule doesn't seem to make sense for canal homes. You look across your canal and see work trailers or old boat trailer or broken down boats.

[Ken Pyeritz]

Are boats permitted to be parked in the driveway overnight for the preparation of overnight loading to leave for our home up north?

[nhkev]

Originally Posted by Ken Pyeritz

Are boats permitted to be parked in the driveway overnight for the preparation of overnight loading to leave for our home up north?

very rarely does code enforcement show up randomly. one of your neighbors would have to call and complain. Something that I have done in the past was launch my boat and then keep my trailer on my vacant lot. one of the neighbors complained and when I came back from the day of boating there was a sticker on my trailer saying it needed to be moved within 3 days or get a ticket. I was taking it out in 2 days so I left it there until the 2nd day.

[Brucifer]

Originally Posted by rikoshaprl

The rule doesn't seem to make sense for canal homes. You look across your canal and see work trailers or old boat trailer or broken down boats.

Not to be snarky, but canals are not streets. From what I understand, backyard is defined by line-of-sight from the edges of your house to the backyard as viewed from the street (or at least the 7.5 foot side yard setback zoning in Cape Coral).

Our lot has a canal on the north and west side of the lot. We had this idea to put the pool on the west side of the house for sunlight and view(ish) benefits, but code says no pools in the side or front yard. Had two city officials suggest/hint that we were to extend our house to each side yard setback say in the shape of an upper case 'L', the open space above the right side of the lower line would be considered 'back yard'. We have years to research that theory.

If that is true, I wonder if it would be possible to have garage doors on both ends of the building, with a pad (or grass) to stage a trailer/RV. You would be able to see any vehicle from a property line (15 foot gap between buildings), but since it doesn't encroach into the 7.5 line and is not in view from 90 degrees from the street to the house, if that would be legal.

Of course, Code Enforcement Fife would make the call and it would be up to you to plead your case. I'm sure in all the years of CC, something like this has happened before and the cost of wanting to thumb your nose at the city may not be in a person's building budget.

[Beak Boater]

Originally Posted by vetty95

What is the code for storing a small utility trailer in the back of my house

The Compliance Request I was issued for a small utility trailer had this code highlighted on the back.


Ord. 60-99, § 1, 12-13-1999)
.2
Parking regulations for property zoned single-family residential.
A.
(1)
It shall be unlawful for any owner, agent, operator or person in charge of a commercial vehicle or trailer to park, store or keep such vehicle or trailer on the pavement or in the swale of any public street within any single-family residential district in the city. Furthermore, it shall be unlawful for any owner of privately owned real property in any residential district in the city to park on, cause to be parked on, or allow to be parked on such property any commercial vehicle or trailer, except as otherwise provided herein.


To me....my interpretation was commercial vehicle or commercial trailer. Not commercial vehicle and any trailer. No matter I made other arrangements and moved it. They do have an appeal process it folks wish to plead their case. But this is the section they are using.