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GregoryJVanucci
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Christine,
Every property in the city has a zoning classification. Every classification lists the allowed uses for the property. Home businesses are allowed in Flint and many have operated for years. Some thrive.
Typically, the more "residential" the zoning class - the more "non-invaisive" the business must be to be allowed. e.g., a purely internet business (with no employees from outside the home, no signs, no visiting customers or sales reps and no commercial storage or commercial waste) can operate from any home. Some home businesses (like one that might produce an explosive cleaning compound out of toxic chemicals and then store its product on site in large quantities) could operate, but only if the home is in an area with a more commercial zoning. The property owner can also always request a zoning change, but "spot zoning" is usually considered a bad idea.
If you are interested, go to the city's web site and read the zoning code.
It is short and easy to read, so it won't be very time consuming. |
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The preceding is my personal opinion and not the opinion of East Village Magazine or of any other organization. -Gregory J. Vanucci |
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Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:37 pm |
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christine
F L I N T O I D
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Gregory,
Thanks for the answer.
Shiawassee zoning is the same way. With the mention of Ebay & garage sales, I thought there might be some uncommon blanket ordinance that prohibited any sort of transaction in a home. I also thought there might be some interesting before & after info on the ordinance, which would help with my stuff.
We recently had an interesting zoning conflict on the west side of Owosso ... a resident wanted to open a bar in an area that is zoned residential. Bar owner argued that he would create jobs for Owosso residents, which I'm sure is true. Residents argued that the value of their property would decrease, the pleasure of the living there would decrease, etc. I think this is also true. There is no question that Owosso needs jobs, and there is no question that Owosso needs to keep its residents.
Don't know about anyone else, but I would definitely move if a bar opened up next to me. However, I really didn't care when my neighbor started his chicken farm. (although I did want to shoot the rooster) Technically, his chicken farm violated county ordinance, but we live in a somewhat rural area. When I built my house, I had a reasonable expectation that I would not end up living next to a bar. Can't say the same about a chicken farm.
cb |
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www.christinebarry.com
The only blog focusing on the people & politics of Shiawassee County, Michigan |
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Fri Mar 09, 2007 4:07 pm |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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There would be tons of ramifications to letting home businesses run rampant. The main one would be jobs. A one person home business can probably survive with no fear but when you start taking on employees or have people coming to see you that's when it can get worrisome.
Basically I do think the most successful companies to start as home business Dell computer and Ikea would have trouble with zoning ordinances in Flint and most likely would have been shut down.
Another type of home business people like to hate are the professional garage sales which Flint designed an ordinance specifically to kill these and we also raised the fees on garage sales which most people probably never pay anyways. When you get professional garage sales going you would quickly draw people into Flint. Professional garage sales are ilegal in Flint and we also have high fees in addition.
If we liberalized or conservatized our sign ordinances you could have 100's if not hundreds or signs popping up over Flint in residential neighborhoods advertising the home businesses. Perhaps if we charged $10 or $20 for the signs we could afford to get rid of the gang advertising that is currently dominates.
I do have an understanding of many of the possible consequences of blatant low end job creation but perhaps when we loose a few thousand more jobs and our population dwindles below 100K we will be ready to return to more conservative strategies. Until then we can have more community meetings and complain about the lack of jobs. A positive though would be incresed community interaction and we should draw in people from outside of Flint.
All it would take is one highly successful home business to potentially bring hundreds perhaps even a couple thousand jobs to Flint. To get those one or two of these businesses the more home business activity you have the more better the odds are of hitting the jackpot such as even a smaller version of Dell or Ikea. Ikea is the largest furniture company in the world and would not exist if not for the home-business activity of it's founder which I'm pretty sure would be illegal in Flint.
A home business has a competitive advantage because overhead costs are much lower than a regular business that is forced to buy expensive office space instead of adding productivity (additional employee). In a place like Flint with the lowest housing in the nation and endless supply of cheap labor, on paper the competitive advantages to home businesses are staggering so I don't think neighboring communities would want Flint to pursue this model especially if it proved to be successful. |
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Adam Ford
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Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:34 pm |
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GregoryJVanucci
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
christine schreef:
Gregory,
Thanks for the answer.
Shiawassee zoning is the same way. With the mention of Ebay & garage sales, I thought there might be some uncommon blanket ordinance that prohibited any sort of transaction in a home. I also thought there might be some interesting before & after info on the ordinance, which would help with my stuff.
We recently had an interesting zoning conflict on the west side of Owosso ... a resident wanted to open a bar in an area that is zoned residential. Bar owner argued that he would create jobs for Owosso residents, which I'm sure is true. Residents argued that the value of their property would decrease, the pleasure of the living there would decrease, etc. I think this is also true. There is no question that Owosso needs jobs, and there is no question that Owosso needs to keep its residents.
Don't know about anyone else, but I would definitely move if a bar opened up next to me. However, I really didn't care when my neighbor started his chicken farm. (although I did want to shoot the rooster) Technically, his chicken farm violated county ordinance, but we live in a somewhat rural area. When I built my house, I had a reasonable expectation that I would not end up living next to a bar. Can't say the same about a chicken farm.
cb
Christine,
First, let me say I love it when a lady calls me Gregory.
But, to the point, I thought I'd write you again with more on garage sales in Flint.
Shameless plug time.
Go to www.eastvillagemagazine.org and then go to the Archive page. Do a keyword search for garage sale. The results you will get will include Flint's garage sale ordinance, the city's sign ordinance, references to garage sales in a demographic study and an economic study of Genesee County and a story titled "You need license to hold garage sale" (aptly titled) from June 2000.
Just click on a headline to pull up the complete text.
While you're at the site, check out some of the latest news releases and, if you have broadband, check out the photo gallery & its fully downloadable images.
Shameless plug complete.
I hope some of this information helps. God knows, I think its more than you need (or want).
My parents were going to name me Overkill. But they thought it would be, well, overkill.... |
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The preceding is my personal opinion and not the opinion of East Village Magazine or of any other organization. -Gregory J. Vanucci |
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Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:01 pm |
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Adam Ford
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A bar could never be a home business in this state. That violates liquor laws.
I've been to a professional garage sale out in the country which is of course illegal in Flint. It was very nice and very well run. I'd say the guy made pretty good money off of it. Fortunately in Flint we will not have to worry about these nuisance jobs being created that would bring people into our city. (sarcasm) If people actually study business the other side to this is with our ban on professional garage sales and hostility towards garage sales we help keep poor people from buying cheaper goods. Garage sales seem to be cheaper than goodwill, salvation army etc.
I'm pretty sure there are also Ebay scavangers that go through garage sales so we also help eliminate internet jobs with our ordinances.
Auto repair is another example. Why should we let our poor residents go down the street to get their car fixed when we can tow there car away and steal it from them.
While these types of home businesses annoy the hell out of people perhaps when more of Flint is feeling the crunch we will be ready to try some of these strategies. Voters probably earn 50 to 100% more than a typical Flint resident so they wouldn't need to cut corners and save money at a Flint home business as much as a typical resident. |
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Adam Ford
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Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:18 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
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Whats a professional Garage Sale?
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Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:23 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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| There's one I'd consider real professional out in Davison township/Goodrich area where someone goes around to garage salles and buys all the best antiques and then they resell everything for 4 times the price. Lots of people go there because its easier going to the one sale and paying 4 times the price instead of going to dozens of garage sales. In Flint you probably wouldn't get those types of garage sales as much but it would benefit poor people which make up the majority of our population but the minority of voters. If we went full tilt we'd probably have about a hundred garage sale businesses if we eased up on our ordinances and fees and a few hundred more home businesses if they were legal. Probably about 1-5% of these would need to relocate to more traditional locations and creat "real" jobs. Our better off voters would probably never go for this though and since poor people don't vote as much it's not liekly to ever happen. In places like Davison township they also have home businesses where they sell fresh fruits and vegetables from gardens. That's also illegal in Flint. |
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Adam
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Mysearchisover.com
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FB
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Jobs
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Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:52 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
flintteach schreef:
The ghettos of the northend of Flint have driven off potential businesses. Who wants to start a business on King when no one in their right mind would frequent that area. Who wants to start a business any where in Flint when the insurance premiums are sky-high because of the drugs, crime, and natives who live there? When 2/3rds of the people who live in Flint are on the welfare roll, who is going to buy what you are trying to sell? What law-abiding citizen wants to risk their lives and property by driving to any business in Flint?
I live south of Lapeer and I can tell you the people of Lapeer proper and outbound areas are people with higher expectations for themselves and their neighbors. That's why they pay the higher taxes !
Hey, why do you always point to the North End? It's city wide. I do agree whole heartedly. Crime has driven up the cost of doing business. 67 percent drop out rate has lowered the skill level of our youth. Making Crime the only job they are qualified to get! Then a law enforcement system that allows crime to continue because these people live in poverty and don't have the ability to help themselves. WOW! |
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Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:47 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Anonymous schreef:
quote:
Anonymous schreef:
People wonder why the crime rate is so high. I'd be knocking over liquor stores too if I couldn't afford to feed my kids.
While I enjoyed most of your reasoning here. I challenge you to find me those that are knocking off liquor stores to feed and clothe their children!! They don't exist!
These criminals set themselves up to fail! Dropped out of School, three, four and five babies’ mommas that they are supporting any of with their ill gotten gain.
Stealing to feed their kids! The real crime is that people say that and actually believe it! |
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Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:55 pm |
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