[NMNeil]

Found this article and it's another example of property developers ignoring the rules and expecting to get away with it.
18the Century pub, sold to a developer and 2 weeks later a 'mysterious' fire happens, and before the cause can be investigated the whole pub was bulldozed. The local council say "Rebuild it" 🤣
https://www.krqe.com/news/weird/ap-c...ilt-as-it-was/
This is the second time developers have tried this trick and been told it won't work.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...ter-bulldozing

[Drivingforfun]

Not the same but a relative is into tree surgery and frequently comes across property developers ignoring TPOs (tree preservation orders) because the only punishment for cutting them down is a fine which the developers simply write into their costs!

[Rolebama]

A friends neighbour took a chainsaw to an oak tree with a TPO on it. The tree was on my friends property. It was cut back to the bare trunk as the neighbour said it was dripping sap onto his car. My friend took out a private application banning the neighbour from damaging the tree in the future. The fine for ignoring the order is a lot higher than that for damaging the tree. The neighbour now has a carport.

[NMNeil]

For a few years there had been a full scale trucking operation about 500 yards from my house. And when I say operation there about 18 trucks and trailers leaving at 4AM and returning at about 11PM.
Problem was it's being operated out of a private house and our whole area is zoned for residential and agricultural use only.
I filed a complaint and asked the County Commission to close them down as they were in violation of zoning ordinances.
They didn't like the idea because most of the County Commissioners are farmers and ranchers and this trucking company hauls agricultural products, so they were looking the other way despite the conflict of interest.
The trucking company then applied for a special use permit which in very special circumstances allows certain other uses, but trucking companies were not one of those uses, and I pointed this out at the public hearing. Undeterred the Commissioners had the special use permits altered to exempt trucking companies, and when the owner applied for a special use permit I was at the public hearing where the Commissioners all had very smug looks on their faces as I stood up to talk.
The smugness evaporated when I asked where was the EPA stormwater discharge permit.
To explain. Since 2019 any proposed industrial operation, and it includes trucking companies, are required to have the site inspected to ensure that no pollution can get washed into the aquifer which supplies our water. Concrete parking pads, oil/water separators and test wells are part of the requirements.
A lot of blank looks and referring to Federal law, which the Commissioners couldn't change, and they told the applicant he needed to get the EPA permit. When he applied and the EPA found it was a private residence they said "hell no, move your trucks off your property and we'll be checking to see if there's any pollution"
Happy me, trucks gone and County Commissions get very concerned when I turn up for meetings 😁

[Santa]

I only just read the original post and it had me somewhat puzzled until I realised that they are in the USA.

Here in the UK, a haulier (aka trucking company) would require not only planning permission from the local Authority but also an Operators' Licence from the Traffic Commissioners. Neither of these bodies would permit even a single truck to operate from a private house.

Even well-established hauliers have had onerous restrictions imposed. No operations before 0800 or after 1800, or access to the site from one direction only for example.

[NMNeil]

I understand, but here we still have the old boy network, where the factory farms have one of their own in government and the department that makes sure there's enough water for the citizens only has farmers and ranchers on the board, so farms and ranches always get top priority. Any attempt to run against them in any election means they start a massive campaign to keep their cronies in power.
As I've already stated in another post, it's the golden rule "Those who have the gold make the rules"