A South Carolina business owner was threatened with 'ruinous fines and jail time' after zoning laws were changed

• Changes to zoning laws forced a South Carolina business owner to lay off three of his five workers.
• Simpsonville officials ordered Rafael Chinchilla to stop offering U-Hauls to rent in August 2022.

A South Carolina business owner laid off three of his five employees after the city changed zoning laws and ordered him to stop offering U-Hauls to rent, according to the Institute for Justice.

Rafael Chinchilla, the owner of Tires 2 Go, a tire retailer in Simpsonville, South Carolina, was told in August 2022 to stop offering U-Haul rentals or face "ruinous fines and jail time."

The city ordered him to stop renting the vehicles and to remove all trucks and trailers within 30 days, or be fined $500 a day and even face a 30-day jail sentence.

The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit, public interest law firm, has written to city officials on Chinchilla's behalf, urging them to reconsider their "illegal attempt to weaponize zoning laws" and force the business owner to cease renting U-Hauls, per a press release.

Chinchilla set up his company in 2011 and has been renting and repairing U-Hauls since then, per the release.

But under South Carolina law, "a property owner has a vested right to continue a nonconforming use in existence when his property is rezoned, barring a factual showing that continuing the use would harm the public health, safety, or welfare."

"The city's actions have crippled my business, hurt my family, and left customers without a place to go rent U-Hauls," Chinchilla said in the press release. "All I want to do is continue running my business the way I have for more than a decade."

The order forced the business owner to lay off three of his five employees as it had "drastically reduced the income from his business," the nonprofit wrote in its letter to the city Friday.

"The illegal and callous nature of the city's order is highlighted by the fact that Mr Chinchilla's tire-service side of his business, the legality of which was never in doubt, has also been severely damaged," the letter continued.

It added that "his use as a U-Haul rental business was grandfathered in, and the City should not violate South Carolina law to destroy it."

A grandfather clause can be negotiated when changes to a piece of legislation may affect their previous rights, privileges, or practices by having the changes apply to a new activity, according to Cornell Law School.

Seth Young, an attorney for Institute for Justice, said: "Mr Chinchilla's business is safe and legal, and he has harmlessly operated for years. The city cannot pull the rug out from under a hard-working small businessman without a legitimate health or safety reason for doing so."

Jon Derby, a code enforcement worker for Simpsonville, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.