THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 3, 1997 TAG: 9701030477
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 70 lines
Daniel Ankrom was pretty sure he was breaking the law when he opened a TV/VCR repair shop in his garage. City zoning officials confirmed that recently when they pulled the plug on his business.
The part-time home business on Corapeake Drive had been open since March, and Ankrom says that after 10 years in the repair business it was helping him reach his goal of opening his own storefront. During evenings and weekends he developed a solid client base, he says, collected equipment and saved money.
Problem was, the home-occupation permit he signed specifically prohibits city residents from operating a ``radio, television and appliance repair shop,'' among other businesses, out of their homes. Ankrom says he will fight to have the ordinance overturned.
``I had no intention of staying here permanently. But I'm no longer a business at all because of an incorrect law. That's a disservice to me as a small-business owner and to my customers.''
Ankrom said the city's permitting forms were confusing because some of the other businesses listed as prohibited on one form could be appealed with another. No appeals for repair shops are permitted - although he says he plans to file one anyway.
Zoning Administrator Chester D. McClain Jr. said the Home Occupation Certificate is straightforward in its list of unlawful uses. Every once in a while there is a rule-breaker, he said.
``We try and set up a system so people know what types of business they can operate. If he read the form then, he knew about the restrictions. He signed the form.''
There are more than 12,000 valid business licenses in Chesapeake, but the city does not track how many of those are home businesses. Licenses are routinely approved by the city for home repair-shops because the owners are permitted to use their property for an office as long as certain services are mobile.
``A lot of people get a van and are mobile,'' McClain said. ``They go to their customers.''
Inspectors only cite the owners when a complaint is made or the illegally operating shop comes to officials' attention in some other way. McClain said a neighbor complained about Ankrom's business. He had advertised his business by passing out fliers when he first opened and by placing a small sign in his yard.
The repair shop restriction has been on the books for decades, most likely because the testing equipment causes disruptions in neighbors' televisions, McClain said. Traffic and commercial activity in residential neighborhoods also might have been an issue. And the home shops put small operators who rent business space at a competitive disadvantage because their overhead is higher, he said. About half a dozen repair shops are listed in area phone books.
Ankrom says he believes the law was passed in 1969 when televisions were made with tubes that contained radioactive material, which the City Council sought to keep out of neighborhoods.
Councilman W. Joe Newman said the inspectors did the right thing.
``My opinion is that the law should be enforced, and they did that,'' he said. ``Whether it's stupid or not, it's the law.''
He said he would consider overturning the law only after consultation with the zoning inspections staff and other city officials to determine all the reasons it was created in the first place. ``I'm not ready to run with that ball yet to overturn the law or keep the law.''
In the meantime, Ankrom was ordered by the zoning inspector's office to take down a sign in his yard criticizing the agency's action against him.
It was too big. ILLUSTRATION: IAN MARTIN
The Virginian-Pilot
Daniel Ankrom's TV repair shop was closed because it violated a city
ordinance regarding home-based businesses. ``I had no intention of
staying here permanently,'' he said.