“I am of the understanding that people cannot run a visible business out of their garage in a residential area. There is an individual that seems to running a business or a permanent garage sale on Rancho Hills Drive between Valley Oaks Drive and Carriage Drive or thereabouts every weekend. Aren’t there any rules about this?”
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“I just called to see what is going on over here on Rogers Lane and Sixth Street right on the corner before you get to Sixth Street. We’ve had a flea market here for the past two months. It gets all packed there on Saturdays and Sundays and it is tough for people to go by.”
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Red Phone: Dear Picked Over, Red Phone receives a couple of these complaints each year. The Gilroy Municipal Code limits garage sales  to once per year. They can’t extend longer than seven days, and they must be between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. And permits are required. The city doesn’t proactively patrol for garage sale violations because of limited staff. Rather it relies on residents to report violations by calling 846-0264.
In regards to the Rancho Hill Drive sale, the city received a complaint and went by to take photos but did not observe a sale in the area, said Gilroy Code Enforcement Officer Scott Barron. “If we find it operating again we will contact them,” he said.
As for the one on Rogers lane, Barron said the sellers have been contacted numerous times, but to no avail. “When we get one group to stop using the site, it seems like another starts,” he said. The city is looking at putting permanent signs there like the one included above in the next couple weeks to “put a stop the practice or at least make it easier for GPD to enforce the code if sales pop up on weekends like they do sometimes,” Barron said.Â
