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Court Rules Off-The-Grid Living Is Illegal [Florida]
Off the Grid News pasted onto Grist blog ^ | February 22, 2014 | by: Daniel Jennings Off the Grid News copied by Sarah Laskow

Posted on 02/25/2014 7:08:57 PM PST by PaulCruz2016

Near the end of 2013, a Florida official decided Robin Speronis was doing something too strange to tolerate: She was trying to live off the grid.

Off the Grid News reports:

Speronis has been fighting the city of Cape Coral since November when a code enforcement officer tried to evict her from her home for living without utilities. The city contends that Speronis violated the International Property Maintenance Code by relying on rain water instead of the city water system and solar panels instead of the electric grid.

And now, a judge has ruled that living independently of the city’s water supply is illegal. “She must hook up to the water system, although officials acknowledge she does not have to use it,” says Off the Grid News.

It’s not really clear why it’s illegal to live off rainwater — it just is. The law doesn’t understand, essentially, how it would even be possible to live without city-provided water. The fact that water regularly comes out of the sky is apparently not compelling.


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: florida; judge; water
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To: Sacajaweau
In the early years, disease from sewage and poor water was so terrible. There were cholera and typhoid epidemics.

Weren't boiling water, washing vegetables in boiled water or avoiding raw food (veggies or steak tartare) sufficient to deal with the problem?

61 posted on 02/25/2014 9:02:49 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: matthew fuller

Aha! Don’t pay your water bill, have them shut you off, and then sue them for violating the law, given that one is required to be connected! Check! (And then they come and shoot you. Checkmate.)


62 posted on 02/25/2014 9:03:22 PM PST by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: PaulCruz2016

Unless the woman dug up the street where the b box is there is no way she’s not “hooked” up. Shut off the valve coming into the house. No more water.


63 posted on 02/25/2014 9:12:46 PM PST by Brasky (You miss every shot you never take.)
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To: matthew fuller

***I’m a little confused. I am under the impression that if you can’t or don’t pay your water bill for a few months, the provider (city in my case) cuts of your water, same as other utilities. Is this not the situation?***

The way my county works is you are charged a monthly fee for the water tap. That fee also includes up to the first 1,000 gal of water.

If you stop paying, water is shut off, but the property owner is still charged the fee every month.

The fee has to be paid in full when the water service is restored. So it could be hundreds or thousands of dollars if the water is off long enough.

Essentially they are holding the land hostage and will never turn the water on again. In this woman’s situation, she will likely not pay, but it will devalue the property if she or her heirs ever want to sell the place.


64 posted on 02/25/2014 10:06:51 PM PST by wrench
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To: GladesGuru

If you read my post, I said that most of here, including myself, could this, but that if it became common in areas such as poor areas of Detroit, that problems could arise.

It is worth more thought than a simple knee jerk response, I said all that in my posts.


65 posted on 02/25/2014 10:18:55 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: GladesGuru

Yeah, gutters and catching rain water, I’ve heard of it.


66 posted on 02/25/2014 10:19:52 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: AlmaKing

You must be quite the urban dweller with your well and septic tank.

As long as houses can have their own septic tanks there would hardly be a problem, since to the home owner that is indistinguishable from being connected to the city.

I don’t know why in the world you would get hostile and personal though, I guess that is a whole different story of yours.


67 posted on 02/25/2014 10:25:05 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: Sacajaweau

Yes, water and sewer is what make the cities possible, they have always been the problem.

Get millions of people disconnecting, and problems and deaths, and illness would start spreading.

It is like using grey water, it is great for some and I used to encourage it a lot, it should be done by those who do it right, but I have seen some pretty filthy ways of people dumping dirty water in their yards, it can get pretty bad after years of simply running an open pipe out there. Some people just do things with no thought or knowledge, just because it is easy, like for instance just letting a broken pipe empty on the ground and calling it, their grey water usage.


68 posted on 02/25/2014 10:31:36 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: PaulCruz2016
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69 posted on 02/25/2014 10:34:46 PM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: PaulCruz2016

Not exactly the post girl one could wish for on this issue.


“Also discussed at the special hearing was the fact that Speronis had been using the sewer system for the past year yet not paying for the service amassing a past due bill in the thousands. After her testimony admitting that she had used the service without paying for it, the city decided to cap the sewer line. Connie Barron, Cape Coral spokesperson told The News-Press, “She also gave clear indications she does not intend to pay for this service but intends to continue to use the system. We really had no choice but to cap the sewer.”

“Speronis’ time living on the grid hasn’t gone so well for her either. As reported by the Cape Coral Daily Breeze , in June 2011, she plead no content to larceny, and was sentenced to 10 years of state probation and ordered to pay $32,000 in restitution. In January 2012, she had her real estate license revoked following a second complaint that she had not returned a $3,500 deposit following a failed condo sale.” http://news.yahoo.com/.../%E2%80%98pure-evil%E2%80%99...


70 posted on 02/25/2014 11:16:16 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: upchuck

Interesting, indeed.

In that posting, she doesn’t mention that she admitted in court that she has been using the sewer for a year or more, without paying for it; and also that she intended to keep using it and not paying for it.

“Also discussed at the special hearing was the fact that Speronis had been using the sewer system for the past year yet not paying for the service amassing a past due bill in the thousands. After her testimony admitting that she had used the service without paying for it, the city decided to cap the sewer line. Connie Barron, Cape Coral spokesperson told The News-Press, “She also gave clear indications she does not intend to pay for this service but intends to continue to use the system. We really had no choice but to cap the sewer.”

http://news.yahoo.com/.../%E2%80%98pure-evil%E2%80%99...


71 posted on 02/25/2014 11:27:57 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: PaulCruz2016
We had to change the title you posted, the source, the link, the date and we added to the writer's name space to reflect the actual name of the writer rather than just the name you posted of the blogger who copied the article.

When you wish to post any material which you have found online, before posting it here, please trace back to find the original source of publication.

Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

Before posting any published material here, check carefully Free Republic's copyright list linked above.

If the original publisher is on the do not post list, then you cannot post it on Free Republic. If the original publisher is on the excerpt only list, you must properly excerpt the article before posting it here.

After doing the steps listed above, then fill in the source blank using only the original publisher as the source, use the original date of publication, use the original publisher's title, and provide a working link which goes only to the site of original publication. Post only the name of the actual writer who wrote the article, rather than the name of any second, third, fourth, etc. person who merely copied and pasted the published material and only added a short intro to the original writer's material.

Thanks.

72 posted on 02/25/2014 11:49:05 PM PST by Admin Moderator
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To: Zhang Fei

http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2000_fall/1832_cholera_part1.html


73 posted on 02/26/2014 3:37:16 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: PaulCruz2016; Kartographer

ping


74 posted on 02/26/2014 4:18:42 AM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith....)
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To: Zhang Fei
The short answer...You think of these bugs as stagnant. They are not. They're airborne also.

How did you catch your last cold or bug?? From someone else.

75 posted on 02/26/2014 4:26:12 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: PaulCruz2016

An excellent podcast interview of her can be found here

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2014/02/13/city-threatens-widow-with-eviction-for-living-off-the-grid/


76 posted on 02/26/2014 5:03:36 AM PST by crusher (GREEN: Globaloney for the Gullible)
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To: PaulCruz2016

They have not yet figured out how to charge for rain water. Perhaps airspace can be rented.


77 posted on 02/26/2014 5:41:20 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: ApplegateRanch

Just a few important details Off the Grid News forgot to provide! Good work.


78 posted on 02/26/2014 6:03:44 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: DemforBush
"The code states that properties are unsafe to live in if they do not have electricity and running water.The code states that properties are unsafe to live in if they do not have electricity and running water."

I understand the well-meaning intent, but this renders much of America's past population as living in unsafe housing.

79 posted on 02/26/2014 6:06:46 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: Sacajaweau

Thanks. From WebMD:


Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is usually found in food or water contaminated by faeces from a person with the infection. Common sources include:

Municipal water supplies
Ice made from municipal water
Foods and drinks sold by street vendors
Vegetables grown with water containing human wastes
Raw or undercooked fish and seafood caught in waters polluted with sewage

When a person consumes the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that produces severe diarrhoea.

It is not likely you will catch cholera just from casual contact with an infected person.


Ever since I heard of E coli outbreaks involving cilantro and green onions, I’ve generally avoided consuming uncooked salads, especially in restaurants. Too many invisible (to the naked eye) creepy crawlies wandering around for my comfort.


80 posted on 02/26/2014 6:25:39 AM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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