3-Year Squabble Over Agoura Hills Drainage Ditch Nears End

A squabble over a drainage ditch, which has stalled the sale of homes at an Agoura Hills subdivision for three years and left officials awash in lawsuits, is about to be resolved, participants in the dispute said Friday.

The ditch was designed to divert hillside runoff from eight homes south of the Ventura Freeway. But it was dug across other landowners’ property without their permission and ended up channeling acrimony toward the city as well as the bank that owns the tract.

The ditch-digging mix-up occurred about four years ago, before Agoura Hills was incorporated and took over responsibility for land planning from Los Angeles County. The work also was completed before the Inglewood-based Imperial Bank foreclosed on the tract’s builder and seized the new $150,000 homes.

Bank officials learned of the problem when they applied for occupancy permits for the houses. City officials informed them that a proper ditch easement would be required before the homes could be sold.

City Sued by Bank

The bank tried unsuccessfully to negotiate easement agreements with the neighboring landowners. Bank officials then sued the city, alleging their property rights had been violated.

Two suits, filed last year in Los Angeles County Superior Court and U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, prompted a decision Wednesday night by City Council members to hold a public hearing to decide whether they should condemn the ditch “for public use.” In exchange, the bank agreed to withdraw its legal challenge.

Both sides said Friday that they expect the city’s action to lead to resolution of the ditch dispute and put the eight homes on the market.

Michael Huse, Agoura Hills’ city manager, said the bank had agreed to pay neighboring landowners the amounts determined by appraisers assisting in the eminent-domain proceedings.

Imperial officials will also pay for the condemnation action after it is authorized by the Agoura Hills City Council, Huse said. No date has been set for the hearings, he said.

“Empty houses sitting up there on that hill are an invitation to vandalism,” Huse said. “That’s also a critical fire danger area, being next to open land like it is.”

In 1978, a brush fire set by an arsonist about a hundred yards from the site of the Vejar Drive development killed one man, burned 26,000 acres and destroyed 200 structures.