Neighbors Say Cuts Threaten Houses : City Charges Homeowner With Endangering Hillside

The City of Los Angeles has charged a Pacific Palisades homeowner with making illegal cuts into a hillside that could threaten the stability of several Rivas Canyon homes.

The nine misdemeanor counts and two infractions against Urban J. Didier of 1270 Marinette Road are scheduled for trial March 26 in Division 90 of West Los Angeles Municipal Court, said Deputy City Atty. Judith Levin.

Didier also will face a civil action in May by the state attorney general on behalf of the state Department of Parks and Recreation charging that he has encroached on Will Rogers State Park.

Homeowners on Chautauqua Boulevard, above the hillside where the cuts were made last spring, and those living on the Rivas Canyon floor below the hill, maintained that the allegedly illegal actions endanger their residences during the rainy season, Levin said.

‘Extremely Dangerous’

Levin said the city filed charges because Didier has not taken action either to restore the hillside or to build a concrete retaining wall at the base of the hill.

“This is an extremely dangerous situation in an area where mud slides are common,” Levin said. “We are going to prosecute the case vigorously.” Each misdemeanor count carries a maximum of six months in jail and a $500 fine. Each infraction involves a $50 fine.

Levin said it is unusual for such a case to reach the courts because people charged with similar violations usually comply with city orders to rectify the problem.

“What makes this case rare is that Mr. Didier’s home is also endangered by the cuts,” Levin said. “We are not asking him to do anything that is impossible.”

The state court action also is rare, according to Ray Patton, chief ranger at Newbury Park district headquarters for the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

“Usually,” Patton said, “when a homeowner has been told about an encroachment, the issue is settled through negotiations.”

Patton refused to discuss the state’s case, but other sources said Didier has dumped fill onto property deeded to the state by the family of actor Will Rogers. The state is trying to get Didier to remove the fill because the family, in deeding the property, stipulated that the land be used for park purposes only.

Didier’s neighbors below the canyon contended that the fill interferes with drainage during rainstorms.

Didier’s attorney handling the city charges was unavailable for comment. Attorney Kenneth Bley, who is representing Didier on the state court action, refused to discuss the matter.

‘Trying Case in Newspapers’

“The problem is that we are in court,” Bley said. “We are disappointed that his neighbors are trying the case in the newspapers.”

Didier’s son, Kurt, said his father would have no comment on the case.

In contrast to the court action in the Didier matter, state park officials have yet to resolve a series of private encroachments on Topanga State Park that were reported well over a year ago.

Department of Parks and Recreation files reveal a backlog of eight trespassing cases, most involving private homes, fences or other structures that stray into the park or adjoining state lands acquired for the Backbone Trail, a hiking trail running from Will Rogers State Park to Point Mugu. Several of the cases were reported by park rangers in late 1983 and the rest were noted even earlier.

In one case, parkland has been used to graze horses, and in another virtually an entire commercial nursery is located on park property.

None of the encroachments has interfered with visitor use of the park, however, and park officials for the moment are ignoring all but the most extensive trespass, involving more than an acre of park property that is being used by the Sassafrass Farm and Nursery, 275 North Topanga Canyon Blvd.

A survey completed 18 months ago revealed that virtually the entire nursery is built on park property. Park officials and owners of the business are discussing ways to eliminate the trespass, either by eviction of the nursery or through a sale or lease of land that would allow it to stay.

Confusion Over Boundaries

State park officials say they believe most of the trespassing arose through confusion about boundary locations in the rugged hills of Topanga, where little survey work was done in the past. They cited the nursery trespass, reported by a park ranger in July, 1983, as one they believe was purely accidental.

Paul Flowers, a consultant who is negotiating with the parks department on behalf of nursery owner Pamela Ingram, credited park officials with showing understanding for Ingram’s predicament.

“They understand that here’s a woman that bought a piece of land years and years and years ago, and she thought she was buying the piece of land that the realtor showed her,” Flowers said.

Then Ingram “all at once finds out that half her property doesn’t belong to her,” Flowers said.

At a meeting last week, parks officials asked Flowers to come back with a specific proposal for eliminating the trespass, either by moving the nursery or buying or leasing the 47,700 square feet of state property it occupies. A long-term lease or sale would need approval by the Legislature.

‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’

Flowers said parks officials have set no deadline for the Ingram proposal, but there is “a gentlemen’s agreement we would try to stay on top of this and resolve the problem.”

Kirk Wallace, deputy regional director for the parks department, said the agency has not taken steps to resolve the other trespass cases, which he attributed in part to manpower limitations and a turnover of key personnel.

The department’s district office in Newbury Park has about 55 employees to operate four state parks--Topanga, Will Rogers, Malibu Creek and Point Mugu--several state beaches and the Backbone Trail. In addition, the district office did not have a superintendent or chief ranger for several months last year when the officials were promoted to higher posts elsewhere.

Wallace also said the trespasses are not a top “priority based on the other jobs and responsibilities we have. . . . They’re not what I consider a high priority in that they have been there.” He said park officials would take “immediate” action to stop any “flagrant” new trespassing, such as the grading of an access road across park property.

‘Outrageous’ Boundary

Park officials point to Topanga’s long, untidy boundaries as a reason for encroachments on the park. The park resembles a crumpled letter A with the top extending across Mulholland Drive into Encino and Tarzana and the legs flaring southeast and southwest to within a third of a mile of the ocean.

“It’s outrageous, it’s just bizarre,” said chief ranger Patton. Topanga has the “longest boundary for a 9,000-acre parcel, certainly of any place I’ve ever seen. And it’s rugged country that hasn’t had surveys.”

In some cases, Patton said, land acquired for the park was being encroached on apparently without the former owner being aware of it. “The trespass was on a former owner so we inherited the trespass,” he said.

In one case more than two years ago, the state sold a sliver of the park to a homeowner who discovered that her sun deck and driveway of the home she had bought extended onto state land.

Flagrant Trespassing

In other cases, park officials have encountered people who knew they were trespassing but did so anyway. For example, in the late 1970s a homeowner on Rosario Drive was keeping storage sheds and rental trailers on park property. Parks department records show that the woman eventually removed the sheds and trailers after resisting on grounds that “she was a taxpayer and should be allowed to use the property.”

One of the current trespasses was first reported in 1979. Then it involved the Arthur Lake family, which had a metal horse corral and part of a wooden fence on park land behind its home on Summit Trail. According to park department records, the Lakes acknowledged they were trespassing and said they would observe the property boundary once it was clearly established by survey. However, a state survey team did not complete its work until September, 1983, when it was determined that the trespass included part of the backyard and 8 to 10 feet of the house.

By then, the Lakes no longer owned the property. The new owner was issued a trespass notice in December, 1983, and was told he would be contacted by park officials within two or three months. However, the owner, Dixon Edgerton, said he has not “heard anything, which is just fine by me.”