By MARK DEVOLDER Los Alamos

Los Alamos County is really big on recreational activities and various kinds of “Fests.” 

Personally, my recreational activity or Fest is working on my vehicles. This is particularly the case as automotive shops typically charge $125 per hour for repair work.

The folks in Community Development (that is, Nuisance Code Enforcement) have suggested that automobiles need to be repaired in residential garages.  As has been pointed out previously, not everyone has a garage or even a carport (this applies to apartments, too). Therefore, vehicle owners may resort to repairing vehicles in yards, driveways, or Los Alamos County (LAC) the streets.

The following are reasons why repairing vehicles in a residential garage is a flawed idea:

In short, a residential garage is a terrible place for a shade-tree mechanic to work.  Anyone who has repaired a vehicle knows this. 

(Note: Given the small size of some yards and back yards, repairing vehicles in yards as proposed in the draft Nuisance Code may not be feasible. In addition, fences may be required so that vehicles are not visible.)  

It is typical and tragic that government entities (including contract personnel) propose unworkable solutions without performing a rudimentary hazard analysis beforehand.  Alternately some kind of pro/con analysis would reveal potential benefits/shortcomings associated with proposals.     

After the Los Alamos County Council poured cold water on Anna Dillane’s complaint about the LAC Nuisance Code, it is abundantly clear to me that the County Council has very limited interest in LAC public opinion unless it related to recreational activities or Fests. I really think that this is the case regardless of the amount of money LAC wastes on POLCO/other surveys. This is also the reason that I will no longer bother voting for any County Council candidates in the future regardless of party affiliation. 

If LAC Nuisance Code Enforcement personnel feel so strongly about homeowners repairing vehicles in residential garages, then I believe it is appropriate for Los Alamos County to shoulder the complete expense of providing new and/or renovated garages for ALL Los Alamos residents (including apartment dwellers). LAC appears to have enough Gross Receipts Tax funding to build garages to the moon. The same argument applies for constructing fences which are required to keep vehicles out of public view during repair efforts. In short, LAC should shoulder the burden of their proposed regulations.  

The LAC Building Code needs to be revised so that new homes in LAC are provided with three-car garages – two for operable vehicles and one for an inoperable vehicle / a vehicle undergoing repairs.  After all, one of the reasons that America won WWII is that the Japanese failed to bomb the dry dock / repair facilities at Pearl Harbor. 

I am reluctantly including the following because it may offend some readers. However, I recall that General Leslie Groves (Manhattan Project) used to start an intellectual fight to see where the strength of an argument resided.

If Nuisance Code Enforcement personnel are going to discriminate against my recreational activities then I think it is only fair that I discriminate against various recreational activities and Fests in LAC as follows:

I can understand if a physicist employed by LANL might be supportive of a nuisance code requirement where LAC residents need to work on vehicles in their garages (or in fenced yard locations). I knew a physicist living in LAC. He had a two-car garage. The only things in his garage were a couple of autos, a pair of green and blue roll-off bins, and an aluminum extension ladder. The physicist spent most of his time reading physics journals and playing his grand piano. The physicist had his autos repaired by a local mechanic. Unfortunately, not everyone in LAC lives the ideal life of a physicist.    

In all fairness, I can see that there is a one good reason for repairing vehicles in residential garages. It keeps audible cussing to a minimum. Such cussing occurs when mud falls in a shade-tree mechanic’s face or a shade-tree mechanic drops a V-8 engine head on his index finger.

Pardon me if I have trouble dealing with bigots who cannot tolerate me changing out my vehicle spark plugs outside on a sunny day.

Reponse From Jessica Lawlis, Urban Planner, Dekker Perich Sabatini:

We appreciate your input on the draft of the Chapter 18 Nuisance code.

We understand your concerns regarding the language under the heading Alternative for Personal Auto and Hobby Repair on page 5 of the draft. To clarify, the language was intended to pertain only to inoperable vehicles being stored in public view for extended time periods for the sake of personal hobby repair.  It was an issue that the project team was asked to consider during one of the CDAB presentations.

We have received several concerns regarding this particular section and have proposed two alternatives on which we need guidance from CDAB and Council during our upcoming presentations regarding the draft. 

Option 1: To remove the content under the heading of Alternative for Personal Auto and Hobby Repair on page 5. 

Option 2: Revise language as follows: “This section shall not apply in an area where an activity is within the contemplated purposes of a duly licensed business with the appropriate zoning or permitted as part of a Special Use and complies with all use requirements of the district and any conditions imposed by the approving bodies, or where any number of inoperable vehicles are kept in an enclosed structure, the routine or minor vehicle maintenance and repairs, such as oil changes, brake replacement, etc. or when vehicles are actively being restored, as defined by this Article, by the owner or tenant of the premises.

Any dismantled or inoperative vehicles, or parts thereof, actively being restored are permitted to be stored on the property for a period not to exceed six months, provided the motor vehicle is registered in the resident’s name and fully covered with an opaque cover designed to fit the motor vehicle if stored in a front yard. Alternative for Personal Auto and Hobby Repair15: Repair, maintenance or hobby activities performed on personal vehicles owned by the owner(s) or occupant of the property will be done in a manner which minimizes the impact to the neighborhood and, shall be performed within the garage or behind fenced areas which are not readily visible from public rights-of-way.” and add definition of actively restored to Division 5 to read: “Actively Restored means the owner has spent at least ten hours of labor in repairing, rebuilding or reconstruction of the motor vehicle within the last 30 days. The burden shall be on the owner of the vehicle to prove that it is being actively restored which may include receipts for the purchase of parts and supplies during the last 6 months which have been installed on the vehicle.”

This alternative language provides exceptions to the routine or minor vehicle maintenance and repairs and provides time limits for hobby restoration activities.

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