Garage Sales and Home-Based Businesses

It appears that a home on Kensington Park Ave. is hosting the world's longest moving sale. Each of the last several weekends you might have noticed signs at our community's entrances advertising the event.

One minor problem: It violates county codes. According to the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement Department:

Garage sales are allowed in residential districts. However, there should be only one sale in a six-month period and each garage sale should be no more than three days long.

You can read this information from its source on the county website. Click here to download the PDF document, which answers other common questions, including several about home-based businesses, which this marathon moving sale appears to be. Again from the county code enforcers:

Only small home businesses are allowed in residential areas. They must be unobtrusive with very little impact on surrounding properties and must be permitted by Hillsborough County. A few examples of this use would be sewing, ironing, private tutoring, domestic crafts and professional services. Examples of what would not be allowed as a home occupation would be auto repair, kennels, catering or a physician’s office. Additional conditions placed on a home-based business include:

Noise levels, traffic and property appearance must remain normal

Employees, other than occupants, are not allowed

Warehousing of goods is not allowed

From Humble Beginnings

This was the site of where homes now sit along Johanna Avenue in the fall of 2005. We have come a long way since then. A few buildings sprang up and the first residents were far outnumbered by construction workers piecing together the concrete blocks and upper floor wood frames of their future neighbors' homes.

Thanks to the housing bust, it took longer than projected for KB Home to complete the build-out but here we are. Almost four years in the making, the St. Charles Place townhome community passed a milestone last night when we elected a board of directors comprised of our fellow owners. We now stand on our own.

We have a lot going for us. We have well-designed, visually appealing homes. We are less than two miles from I-75 and the ramp to the Crosstown Expressway. We can walk to the grocery store and several restaurants. Brandon mall shopping is less than a five mile ride away.

Yet we also face challenges that confront every community. We have to protect ourselves, our neighbors and our homes from criminals. We have to make sure all residents know the community rules to ensure the rights and comfort of their neighbors. Future development along US-301 could bring more traffic and people onto our streets.

Now that we have our own board of directors, we can better address issues that we must deal with as a community. But there is no magic potion, no silver bullet, no panacea that, with one swipe of a hand, we can make any problems we have disappear.

It will take everyone's continued involvement and effort to make the community that rose from the dirt in the last few years one in which we're all safe, secure and proud to call our homes.