Ok, so, she goes "green" and the communists STILL aren't happy? Wow, I'm shocked (got sarcasm?)

Oh, that's right, self-reliance & using your brain aren't allowed in the communist societies. I can't wait for the court-ordered psyche-quacks to come a knockin' on her door to "diagnose" her...for her own safety of course.

Petty little tin pot dictators! Collectivists on the loose!

Code enforcement - the preferred tool of the local Talibans everywhere.

Oh sure. Even if you live off of rain catchment the muni water companies are starting to bill you anyway (for removing that roof water from the watershed they think they own). Not kidding.

The special interests are not going to allow this kind of thing. No way, no how.

Hey, fellow "Gulchers"! This is my first comment but I think it's worthy of mention. Perhaps the local municipalities are concerned that they can't track our various activities (electric and, potentially other activities) via the notorious "smart meters". Please check these out and opt-out while you still can. I live in Austin, and although our fair city Is one of the most liberal in the union, I was "allowed" this "privilege" last December. It cost me $75 to have it removed and another $10 monthly. I understand other cities charge several hundred $. Please check it out ...

Lets see... using a rain catchment system... is NOT a well. Amazing how, when a municipality decides to focus their entire time and effort on one person, they're relentless in their manner of teaching their serf a lesson. And how they can find a rule, bend the crap out of it (or use A to try to = B) to feed their Dobermans...

They DO have a legitimate beef, tho - if she's using the municipal sewer system, then she can't mooch that service. Unfortunately most municipalities tie sewer service to water service - with no way to charge them separately without costig time, money, and hassle (under the rule of "If it goes into your home, its gotta come out somewhere when you're done with it" principle).

I would suspect the reason for the hookup is to charge the fee for sewer system use. So bill her for the sewer lien, she pays for it, and be done.

Except then... one of the little, petty serfs would have gotten AWAY with something, and the municipality NEEDS to teach her, and everyone else who thinks they can get along without them, a lesson.

I'm not into outrage, but I don't care for Florida. I know it's not just Florida, but I believe this same issue came up where I live and they granted an exception for people using off-the-grid utilities. Of course, the burden should be on the gov't, not the citizen to request and exception.

I'm not surprised by this article. It's disappointing, but not surprising.

I do have to say, I live in South Florida--and am a fire inspector (and firefighter), so I enforce building codes and the whole 9. There is a home in my city that has run self-sufficiently like this for the past 20 years (give or take). I speak with the family on a regular basis and the city/code enforcement has never given the homeowners any issues. The only thing they do pay is for the sewage/waste management--which is a minimal cost.

Illogical. The grid is exquisitely vulnerable to storm damage. Surely all Floridians know this. They ought to encourage people to live off the grid, if thehy were really concerned with public safety.

Fortunately this is only true in Cape Coral. Across the state in Melbourne, one of my neighbors has disconnected from the grid, and my former company helped quite a few people disconnect.

What, you don't like living in our "worker's paradise", Comrade?

scoJohnson - You might want to rethink your solar power arrangement. I intend to get solar (perhaps in the next year) but if you do the net-metering system it means that if your grid goes down, the solar panels do not power your house. I know that this is illogical, but I did a bunch of research about a year ago and found that none of the solar companies actually powered your house first with the panels' output...and then sent excess power out onto the grid (or pulled additional power therefrom). All of them defaulted to sending 100% of the power onto the grid, powering your house 100% from the grid and then mathematically adjusting the cost. Since I want to be able to power mine own house in case of an emergency, I did not like this model. I finally found one company who said that they were willing to discuss a direct-power model (which would give me electricity during the day - since I live in S CA, this would be adequate).

Another point is that it might be better to be nominally connected to the grid. Even if local ordinances allow you to be off-the-grid, it is more likely that you will attract unwanted attention (or be on 'special lists') if you are blatantly off the grid. I refer to my house preparations as 'earthquake readiness' precautions when I am in general company.

Jan

It's about control. If you are not connected to governments systems, they can not control you.

Why should any individual who had the ability to not use city assets not be permitted to do so? Why should they require her to be hooked to their electrical grid, or to get permits to do anything to her own home? She does need to pay her sewer bill or disconnect that as well.

I suppose this gives me a purpose for when I am bound for the legislature...

Private property, anyone? Initiative, ability, reason? Freedom?

This is a perfect "Calumet 'K'" situation. And the solution(s) to her "problem" just might benefit any one of us who puts their beliefs into practice. Anyone out there with knowledge of the various building codes? Any attorneys? There are almost certainly some "creative" ways of dealing with this.

If someone tries to force a psych diagnosis on her, it could be an advantage. She could then sue under the Americans With Disabilities Act, claiming that the authorities are not providing her with "reasonable accommodation".

My suspicion: she's got a neighbor or neighbors who believe that anything other than white picket fences and lawn ornaments is an abomination. If I were her, I'd start installing what are undoubtedly some actual "code violations". Livestock and a methane digester would be a good start. Or put in a "garden pond" and use it as a fish farm.

the water thing while being enforced in a totally horrible way might be the cities attempt to prevent Legionnaires' disease outbreaks.. Well Water comes up too cold for it, muni water also is too cold and to loaded with stuff to be much of a problem. But, a rainwater basin is quite likely not being kept cool enough to keep the stuff from being a problem. Also, there is a heck of a difference between the water coming out of your gutters and actually clean water. So, as a little thought experiment she has a tank of water in the basement sitting at about 78 degrees, it starts growing the stuff and then she decides to use that water to water the lawn which aerosolizes the bacteria in water droplets. Now, some kid two doors down gets sick. While I am all for the idea of getting water off the grid, it is also one of those things that you do not mess around or do a half-ass job on. As for the electrical, they have got to be kidding.. Also, keep in mind that the code enforcement folk's primary job is not to actually enforce code, but to generate income by selectively enforcing code from first people who can afford to pay the fines. I made the mistake once of being the one guy in a neighborhood that could pay fines and it made me a big old target..

It is entirely reasonable to expect her to pay for sewer as she is using it. The rub on that though is that sewer is usually calculated based on water use and she doesn't use water. the city needs to come up with a rational cost to charge her for sewer, otherwise they are full of it. This issue has come up before, I am sure this is the same lady. I am certain that the regulation in question was put in place to make sure that the municipality could insure that it had sufficient density of water usage that it could provide the city water at a reasonable cost. I suspect the requirement that she hook up to the water system is an attempt to force her to pay for sewer as she would then get a sewer bill. That very reasonable consideration, along with the hubris of government these days creates this ridiculous "hostage" situation.

To truly live off the grid, doing it in Cape Coral, is not the right place . You are still benefitting from paved streets, outdoor lighting, sewers, etc. About the only place it is possible is in unincorporated sparsely populated land. The mountains of Alaska come to mind.

I'm not surprised.. most of your electric bill is taxes... very little is actually power usage in most cases. The "State" can't deal with a reduced level of taxation. They also don't look good pushing a green agenda, so everyone switches to solar, but still wanting that $50 tax out of a $200 power bill. It's only a matter of time, they will decide to "meter" your solar panels and charge you a tax on how much sunshine you use.

California is pushing similar BS... first, we started with incentives to buy a green vehicle... I did.. bought a Volt, took advantage of the tax credit, love the car - great to drive, high level of performance and outstanding build quality. Later I installed a solar system to more or less be off the grid (I do use net-metering though instead of a gigantic battery in the garage). Now California is so concerned about the rise of bio diesel fuels, and electric vehicles... and those evil EV owners that produce their own power instead of buying it from the power company with their boat-load of taxes and fees on top of the exorbitant kWh charges... Oh my gosh, the trust fund for maintaining highways is collapsing... and CalTrans (internal) memos that indicate an 83% bureaucratic overhead inside of every project to maintain their own staff... the Shame! They may not have the money to maintain all of those civil servants surfing the web all day on the taxpayer dole... So the new plan is to "Tax" the number of miles you drive, because the gas tax alone isn't doing it... so us evil EV and hybrid owners that paid a sh*tload of sales tax (about $4,000 on the Volt) on our expensive automobiles compared to some dude buying a $1500 jalopy... can go back to "paying our fair share" again. Yet... I do get criticized regularly too for taking the "tax credit" from California.. $1500 back out of a $4,000 sales tax line item... Truth be told, we mainly bought it to drive in the carpool lane with it.


Sorry folks, but the working-class welfare, or "state jobs" as we know them, needs to end.