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Yuma Zoning attempted to do this to me.

I have a property with a wall around it. The wall was built before zoning was instituted.

No one had ever complained. A zoning inspector noticed the wall, and the zoning commission said it did not meet codes. A wall was not allowed for. The zoning notice said that they would start fining me $250 a day until I tore down the wall.

I met with them and explained that the wall had been there for decades, and was there when I purchased the property. They said I had to prove that the wall was there before zoning went into effect before they would back down.

Understand - for construction that was there for decades - which had never generated a complaint - I had to prove it was legal or they would fine me $250 a day until I destroy property that I valued.

Fortunately I was able to obtain affadavits from long term residents that the construction had existed prior to zoning being put in place in the 1970s.

Then the zoning commission backed off. It probably did not hurt that I had local political connections, and had resources and time to fight the system.

So, I can empathise with this woman and her good samaritan.

I would like to see zoning reform, such as a statute of limitations on zoning enforcement, and requirement for some kind of neighbor complaint for enforcement.

When the County hired zoning enforcers, I predicted that they would go out looking for items to cite in order to justify their jobs. How right I was.