Judge Rules Living Off The Grid To Be Illegal

From starting home gardens, to collecting rainwater, there are many small and big ways that people have been making changes in their life, in an effort to save money, live more environmentally friendly, and to supply themselves with their daily needs. Unfortunately, one judge in Florida has intervened with one woman’s lifestyle of living “off the grid,” by deeming it illegal. Special Magistrate Harold S. Eskin ruled that the city’s codes allow the woman, Robin Speronis, to live without utility power, but she is still required to hook her home to the city’s water system. Her alternative source of power must be approved by the city as well, Eskin said.
Speronis has been fighting the city of Cape Coral since November, when a code enforcement officer tried to evict her from her home for living without utilities. She has her own solar panels, and collects rainwater. The city contends that Speronis violated the International Property Maintenance Code by relying on rain water instead of the city water system, and solar panels instead of the electric grid. Speronis said at the time that she didn’t have a refrigerator, oven, running water or electricity in her home. She also does most of her cooking on a propane camping stove, and her electronics run on solar-charged batteries.

“It was a mental fist fight,” Speronis’ attorney Todd Allen said of Eskin’s review of his clients’ case. “There’s an inherent conflict in the code.”

Part of the conflict: she is required to hook up to the central water system, although officials acknowledge she does not have to use it. Speronis has stated that she hopes to win her case and set a precedent for others in her situation. Even more recently, a judge declared her lifestyle to be in violation of city code as well as the International Property Maintenance Code, she is looking to appeal.
It looks like the city may have overstepped its authority and may have also violated due process procedures, Eskin noted. He felt that the city had not given Speronis proper notice of violations, and ruled that some of the charges against her were unfounded. Speronis disconnected all the utilities from her modest home in Cape Coral for an experiment in off-the-grid living some time ago, but city officials ignored her activities until she went public and discussed them with Liza Fernandez, a reporter for a local TV station.
A code enforcement officer designated Speronis’s home as “uninhabitable” and gave her an eviction notice a day after the piece aired. The widow and former real estate agent now has two choices: she can either restore her hookup to the water system by the end of March, or appeal Eskin’s ruling to the courts.

“Cases such as Robin’s are becoming increasingly common as overzealous government officials routinely enforce laws that penalize Americans for living off the grid, hosting a Bible study in one’s backyard, growing organic vegetables in one’s front yard, feeding wild animals and collecting rainwater, to name just a few,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute.