I had some lovely folks in my class today that run the Lewisville library Makerspace. One of the questions they had for me is “I heard you can’t spray paint here, isn’t that really limiting? Do you know why?” Since I couldn’t answer I figured I’d bring it up again- is it a Carrollton city ordinance/rule? Whose rule is it?
City ordinance as far as I know related to building code and our lack of means to manage the combustible propellant.
City code. The way it was explained to me by a Professional Engineer (PE) was that Carrollton adopted the international codes and since there was no way to police the restrictions in those they made it forbidden for commercial.
If you’re a home owner, you’re OK. If you’re renting you need express written permission from the owner of the home.
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So are non flammable, compressed air systems (like an airbrush/compressor) ok for us to use?
You are so right. City Ordinances, building codes, and the classification of our building as F1/Light Industrial are the main reasons there can not be any spray painting at DMS. DMS can not be rated as a school or library because we do not have certified teaching staff on duty around the clock, members have access 24 hours a day. The ability to use spray painting at DMS would require someone to register with OSHA and the City, maintain all painting records, and monitor all painting per regulations. I don’t know anybody at DMS that is willing to sign their name on the line and go to jail for anybody else’s transgressions with spray painting. Going to jail may seem rather harsh, but then again a $2,000 fine to the person caught by City officials doing the painting is also.
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I would venture to say nothing bigger than the airbrushes in CA, but that’s not up to me to say.
DMS does not have a paint booth and will not have a paint booth under current regulations as it’s too hard to document all the usage.
Looks like our posts hit almost the exact same time. 
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I had heard that this is due to the aerosol propellant rather than the chemical makeup of the paint. So hypothetically, if I bring my own airbrush, I can use a DMS compressor or shop air and spray VOCs to my heart’s desire in the back parking lot provided I keep it off of the pavement, building and members’ cars.
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All I can tell you is that the City Code Enforcement Officers have told me that there will be a $2,000 fine for spray painting on the premises. The fine will not be for DMS to pay, but to the individual caught doing the painting. Hope you have a good hypothetical lawyer on your side.
Last Monday (or was it Tuesday) I saw the Code Enforcement Officer circling the building at 8:30 in the morning, I stopped him and had a chat. They are watching DMS due to our poor track record of staying within the law. Let’s just keep this topic simple. Suggest you do your spray painting elsewhere, not at DMS.
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Very interesting! Thank you so much for replies!
You can be the test case and pay the fine.
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Or confusion about what it is that we actually do and provide for the community. They do not have any other comparable entity, esp with such diversity.
#squarepeg
When people call the city to report junk cars or members living in the parking lot, we make extra work for them and that is never a good thing.
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Just to confirm you think it’s extra work for the police to enforce vs the extra work is caused by the people violating the law?
Another words your blaming the reporter of the violation vs the the person that is violating the law?
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I think what he is saying is that if we took care of our dirty laundry ourselves instead of having it hung in the Town Square we might not attract so much attention.
Russell Ward
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I sure hope so!
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I don’t think that is what @Bill was saying with his comment. But, thank you @Gimli for saying it. We have all watched over the last year as specific abuses of the DMS have grown to the point that many are mad at those that point them out and work to fix them. This is blatantly true with the idea of living at or behind DMS, abandoning vehicles and projects behind DMS, large slow progressing projects living in the warehouse, and large amounts of clutter around the space.
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I’m going to close this, as I didn’t want it to devolve into the cars out back issue and have my answer.
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