I totally agree. My old job was to make sure building plans complied with codes and I also did inspections. “Go by the written” was a concept I had to explain to my co-workers. The building official supported me so that helped. He also allowed common sense to play a part- I know, who would believe it? Going beyond the obvious would get you reined in very quickly.
In a incident similar to yours I had a lady come into the department telling me she needed a permit to screen over her garbage cans which were behind a fence. I turned her away because I could not believe code-enforcement required this and she may have misunderstood. Nope. The code read that garbage cans had to be in an enclosed area unless out for pick up. Behind a fence out of view was not enough. But if she added a screen they would be o.k. Well what to do? I asked my boss if we could just issue her a permit for $1.00. We did and code enforcement was happy. But really- that poor lady being put through such nonsense.
I see in your case the officer ignored the whole “operating” part of that ordinance.
Oh yes, code enforcement and ignorant codes were my worst enemy. It was a never ending process, about the time I went through a lot of time, effort, and cost “educating” the officers themselves, such as the difference in codes that apply or do not apply to residential, agricultural, and commercial zoning they get transferred and I had to start all over again with a new one.
Again the new one would start off writing violations of residential zone codes against commercial zoned property where they do not legally apply. They didn’t even understand the difference and it just went right over their heads and I would be in court again when it should have never been written in the first place. I had to keep every new year’s codes handy like a bible all the time to ward off the evil. lol
They do not even educate their own officials and they don’t care at all how much time, effort, and expense it costs the public. And because they don’t even truly understand the very laws they are supposed to enforce they just make up their own laws. And then the authoritarian complex makes them Gods with absolutely no appeal process and you have to sue them just to prove they are wrong.
“I see in your case the officer ignored the whole “operating” part of that ordinance.”
Actually it gets even worse, just as their legal definition of the word “near” a highway is very very broad so is their definition of “operating a motor vehicle”. Basically if the keys to the vehicle are available then it can be legally deemed as being operational therefore equal to being operated. They are always written to assume you are guilty of operating it just because it happens to be operational and you have the keys available.
Even if they didn’t “catch you in the act”, just because you “can or might have” makes you guilty of it. They are now arresting folks for drunk driving just because the keys were available in the house and you happened to be drinking while you were working on your car in your own driveway. Just because you “could have/maybe” makes you guilty of doing it. It is all really getting out of hand. No longer can a person maintain a reasonable status of being “a law abiding citizen”, it is now almost impossible if they enforced all the broad language.