It is just about 50 years ago, that I bought a piece of property to move my shop to, and one of the reasons that I liked the property, was that it had an existing "junk yard" license on the property. When I applied for the license, the building inspector said that the state no longer issued "junk" license plates, and that I should upgrade the license to a "used car" license. I would also have to go for a variance on the property to get the "upgraded" license. I went through the process of notifying all the neighbors, publishing the change in the newspaper, etc. On the night that it was going to be considered by the zoning board, the room was packed. One by one, each of them objected to the variance, so it appeared that it was going to be denied, until the building inspector stood up, and told everyone that the property already had a "junk yard" license grandfathered on it, and that the used car license would be more restrictive in the use of the property. The head of the zoning board then announced that the board would take a vote and their decision was final. Then he asked for a show of hands as to how many people wanted the zoning variance denied, or approved. Seems everyone realized that a used car license was preferable to having a junk yard in their neighborhood. The zoning board approved the variance. I recently visited the property, and the neighborhood had declined, and it looks like they are running a junk yard on the property now. When I was there, everything was neat and clean, and the cars were parked in an orderly fashion. Not so now....
