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Code violations create uncertainty for shop owner’s future

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After 16 years in the same location, the owner of Dr. Dave’s Auto Care in Old Town is weighing the possibility of closing shop or moving his business due to county code enforcement citations.

David Goldstone, owner of the auto repair business at 902 Main St., said the citations for violations have been issued more frequently and amount to $1,000 each.

“All my customers are bummed,” he said. “They don’t want me to leave.”

Goldstone runs a one-man shop on property that he said is zoned C36 for general commercial use.

According to the county, the code compliance division received a complaint about the business in 2012. Since then, Dr. Dave’s has been found in violation of storage of multiple inoperable vehicles and was required to remove all solid waste trash and debris from the property along with a cargo container used for storage, which he has removed.

Over time the amount of repeated violations have increased from $100 each to $1,000.

Because Goldstone leases the property from the Linnie B. Corbett Trust, the citations go directly to the property owner, and Goldstone is then billed.

Goldstone said he would rather deal with code enforcement officers directly.

“I understand it’s Main Street and they want to make it pretty,” he said. “I just wish someone would talk to me.”

Code compliance said it has worked with the property owner to establish a compliance schedule to remove the “junk” in the front and in the back of the property.

“Code compliance’s aim is always to work with the persons involved to bring them into compliance,” county staff said in an email to the Sentinel.

Goldstone stored clients’ vehicles needing repair in the rear yard that is surrounded by a slatted-fence, but was required to clear everything out. Among the vehicles, he said, were two owned by an active duty service member who is stationed overseas.

“I’ve never charged anybody for storage or put a lien on a car,” he said.

To clear the rear yard, Goldstone relocated some vehicles to friends’ properties and moved others to front of his shop.

The code enforcement officer acknowledged the rear yard was clear, but said multiple inoperable vehicles were in the front, which is also not allowed.

Goldstone said he doesn’t know where he can put all the vehicles and estimates he has paid $10,000 in fines so far.

“I feel like somebody wants me out,” he said. “I’m just trying to run a business and feed my family.”

His location has housed an automotive service station or repair for at least 70 years, according to Woody Kirkman, lifelong resident and president of the Ramona Town Hall board of trustees.

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