Local News in Brief : Developer Avoids Four Days in Jail
Agoura Hills city officials said Thursday that developer James F. Morning has completed erosion-control work at an 85-acre subdivision site to their satisfaction and will avoid serving the final four days of a five-day jail sentence.
Morning, vice president of Brentwood Land & Sales Inc., was fined $100 and sentenced to five days in jail last Friday for failing to install required erosion control devices at the project site. Morning’s firm had agreed to install the runoff drains in 1982. After that, however, his company lost the 121-home site through foreclosure, leaving a portion of it susceptible to runoff damage.
The 40-year-old builder was released after spending five hours in the Calabasas Courthouse holding cell and given one week to finish the drainage work or face serving the remainder of the sentence in Los Angeles County jail.
City Prosecutor Mitchell Abbott said city building inspector Ivar Boyum will sign off the grading permit today prior to Morning’s scheduled appearance at the Calabasas Municipal Court.
According to Morning, the $15,000 installation was completed earlier this week after an independent contractor volunteered to help him finish it.
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