Building inspection poll

[boneheadben]

Answer if want to or don't, I was wondering how many producers who did maple weekend in ny (where I'm from anyway) have their building as agricultural and retailed out of it. If you see where this is going haha I got a call from the building inspector tonight who said the town had received a complaint about me retailing from my sugar shack. And now I am receiving a appearance ticket. Govt. at its best.

[Bucket Head]

I can not think of a sugarshack that I've visited and syrup was'nt for sale in it- maple weekend or not. It seems to be a gray area. Or sadly, an area that depends on how you and your neighbors get along with each other. Or how you, your neighbors and your town's government get along. I've heard some troubling stories regarding this issue.

Does anyone know how or why all these wineries, microbreweries and cider mills/cideries (spelling?) get by? They are also an agricultural enterprise, I thought, and sell product on site. And they also sell all sorts of stuff not made on site. I vaguely remember a story about legislation being passed that allowed cideries to sell jelly, jams, honey, etc. I thought it was a N.Y. law? Most of these places are like gift shops, not sugarshacks!

I think everyone's state asscociation should review their states laws and clarify this, or help to get it changed.

Steve

[Spanielslovesappin]

So if you have an Ag exemption in place on the sugar house then you cannot retail anything out of it. Most guys around us have a small shed or a pop up tent that they actually sell their goods out of on maple weekends to dodge this issue. No good deed goes unpunished!

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

next it will be a armored up humvee full of jack booted thugs pulling up to your sugar shack with guns drawn wanting their tax check

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Call Helen Thomas at the State maple producers office. I think this issue was dealt with at the State level a couple of years ago. 315-877-5795

[Calycanthus]

First, read the local zoning laws. You may need some chemical assistance for two reasons: 1), these things are infinitely boring, and EVERY town has them. How there is that much boring to go around, I don't know. Someone should do a study corresponding the density of boring to the oversupply of lawyers. 2), there are going to be MANY wtf? moments where you are going to wonder who ever thought of regulating that.

Some of those moments are going to come with farm stands. Locally, a farm stand is allowed by zoning. Regulated measures include, size of facility, both enclosed and open air, setback from any property line, and where what is sold can be made. For the record, these rules were in the 60's.

I can tell you who dropped the dime. Every little neighborhood has one of those. You probably don't even need to think about who reported this, all you need to know to is they live very close.

My advice? Retain a lawyer. They want you to go into this fight unarmed. They will see retaining a lawyer as a declaration of war, yet this is very much a legal affair. If I'm going to pick a fight with you, of course I don't want you to know how to fight, or even if you have to fight.

You're in New York. NY has some very real protections for farms. State law, not local. I know this from conversations with a retired lawyer in NY who at one time was well known for defending farms from meddlesome suits.

[Dill]

I'm not in NY but are you a Farm Bureau member? If so contact your local office. They are good at navigating ordinances and assisting those in towns to understand their own laws.

[Loch Muller]

I'd contact the Producers Association then the NY Farm Bureau before you make your appearance. I've never had to deal with it, but I've heard the Farm Bureau is good at helping people with zoning issues and unreasonable complaints from neighbors. Good luck. I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.