You would think with promotion in the Detroit Free Press, WDIV and at least one metro radio station that Farmington City Hall would have been jammed this evening with angry garage sale addicts protesting the encroachment of city government on their time-honored, neighborhood traditions.
So I got to City Hall fifteen minutes early – and had no trouble at all finding a seat. Did no one care that the city was about to pass an ordinance that would deny residents their First Amendment right to hold a garage sale? That would force residents to schlep over to City Hall to get a permit?
Turns out the new ordinance, passed tonight after a second reading, was tweaked to eliminate the permitting process – which city staff correctly determined a) was an unnecessary burden for most residents and b) would take up way too much their already limited time. But it still limits residents to having two sales per year, each with a duration of no more than 72 hours and requires a citizen complaint in order to start the zoning code enforcement process moving, in what will apparently be a fairly slow manner.
Mayor Valerie Knol repeatedly reminded residents, “We’re not going to be the garage sale police.” In fact, she said a resident would have to hold a minimum of three garage sales to trigger a complaint, and then a city code enforcement officer would have to observe more than two garage sales in order to uphold the complaint. A person could probably get away with four or five garage sales before John Koncsol comes a-knockin’.
After the ordinance passed with relatively little discussion, I started to wonder what all the fuss was about. Then a resident who has held multiple garage sales stood up during public comment and asked an interesting question:
If the city isn’t really going to enforce the rule about two garage sales, what’s the point of having it?
The point, it seems to me, is to create a fairly generous threshold between where my rights end and yours begin. That really is the purpose of zoning codes. They balance individual freedoms with community responsibilities and standards. Some of those rules, like the garage sale ordinance, should remain flexible, because they involve relationships between neighbors, more than public safety concerns.
Then, of course, we-the-people have more power to decide where to draw the line. Do you report your neighbor for having an RV parked in his driveway, even though you know the thing won’t run and your neighbor can’t afford to have it fixed or moved? Do you turn in a friend who side-steps an ordinance because she can’t afford to complete a project “to code”? Do you call the police about your neighbors’ sixth garage sale in as many weekends, knowing the funds will feed their children?
And if you turn a blind eye, what happens when the RV begins to rust and drop parts in the driveway? Or when bad wiring results in a house fire? Or a car accident results from heavy traffic generated by a popular garage sale?
Rules exist for a reason, and this garage sale ordinance seems to me a fair rule. It sets a limit that allows people to hold a garage sale almost every other month, while still addressing neighbors’ perfectly reasonable expectations about traffic, peace and quiet. It provides space for neighbors to settle their differences and provides an avenue for official action when they can’t come to an agreement.
And maybe this non-issue issue will remind us to pay a little more attention when those hand-drawn signs pop up next door. Because if someone living that close relies on garage sales for regular income, maybe it’s time to knock on the door and ask whether there’s anything you can do to help.
–Joni Hubred-Golden
Enterprise Publisher
