Trailers, Shacks Dot Tiny Lots in Kagel Canyon : County Cracks Down on Bootleg Homesteads

On a clear day, Clara McNey can see the San Fernando Valley, downtown Los Angeles and Catalina Island from her home of 40 years at the top of Kagel Canyon.

But, on the day two years ago that Jerry Overlock moved down the hill from her, McNey saw red.

Overlock and his wife hauled four small sheds and a pair of travel trailers onto a tiny lot in the middle of the brush-covered slope. He rigged up a solar panel for power, bought jugs for water, and called the place home.

McNey and the handful of other families who live in conventional houses at the remote upper end of the canyon above Sylmar and Lake View Terrace were angered when they discovered that Overlock had come to stay--even though he had no building permit, water supply, electricity or bathroom.

Others Investigated

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials called a demolition company to remove Overlock’s home as part of a crackdown on the use of lots in the canyon that are too small to be legally developed. They said they are also investigating the use of about 10 other parcels.

As many as 4,000 of the 60-by-40-foot lots exist along a mile-long section of Kagel Canyon Road. They were apparently created about 60 years ago when a developer created a subdivision for weekend mountain cabins, officials said.

Despite the spectacular Los Angeles view from the mountainside, only nine homes had been developed in the old tract until about three years ago. The lack of a reliable water supply in the area was the primary drawback.

“We hauled water up from San Fernando for a long time,” McNey said. “Then we found a spring back up in the hills and put in a 1,000-foot-long pipe.”

Others in the canyon also use springs, although one shared by several families has recently dried up and residents are putting in a deep new well.

Homeowners say they are worried that their wells will be contaminated by the newcomers who have scattered small trailers, old buses and camper shells among the chaparral next to a network of “streets” that exists only on paper.

“People will find an old camper and move it in on one of these lots,” said Gerald Burris, an aircraft worker who has built a 3,800-square-foot home by combining 10 of the tiny parcels into one buildable pad.

“You wake up in the morning and they’re there. Somebody had a trailer in front of me for months. There were no sanitary facilities in it. We were worried about pollution in our well.”

Burris said ownership of some of the tiny lots changes “almost yearly” as investors discover that they cannot legally build a home on a 60-by-40-foot lot under current county standards.

Those rules include setback regulations for structures and special restrictions for septic tanks and wells--including percolation requirements and a minimum 150-foot separation between wells and septic leech lines.

That doesn’t stop the sale of the lots, Burris said. He displayed an auction notice for a Sept. 27 land sale to be staged by a private company that advertises a 40-by-60-foot lot near him. The minimum bid: $400.

Skip Cooke, who has lived 10 years near the top of the canyon in a remodeled 1930s-era cabin, said longtime residents favor enforcement of building codes and health regulations.

‘Precedent for Everyone’

“The laws were made for the protection of people’s rights,” said Cooke, a heavy equipment operator for the City of Los Angeles who composes music at his cabin at night. “If one guy gets away with not abiding with the law, it sets a precedent for everyone else.”

Property rights were on Overlock’s mind, too, as a 27-ton bulldozer moved in on his shed-like structures Tuesday, crushing two of them and leaving two more to be moved by noon today by Overlock.

“Without due legal process, through the force of might, they did what their supervisors wanted,” said Overlock, a 41-year-old civil engineer. “There was no court order, nothing signed by a magistrate. It was just raw bureaucratic power.”

Overlock said his solar panel and batteries provided enough power to run a color television and video recorder. He said water carried up the mountain in a tanker truck was also solar-heated. One of the travel trailers had a toilet and waste holding tank that was emptied by hand, he said.

“It cost me $30 a year in property taxes to live here, that’s all,” Overlock said. “We’d lived in Sylmar in a regular house but didn’t have the money for rent . . . economic liberty, that’s why we’re here.”

Wife Ryan Overlock, 30, described her husband as “a rebel from way back.” Despite the hostility of other canyon residents, the two of them will remain on their property, she said. “We’ll probably move a tent here.”

County officials said Tuesday’s crackdown came after canyon homeowners complained about squatters and illegal structures to the office of county Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Ken St. John, an inspector for the county’s Department of Building and Safety, said Overlock was given several chances to make his property comply with county codes before the demolition order was issued May 6.

The listed owner of the property, a Beverly Hills woman, will be billed for the cost of Tuesday’s cleanup, said Sherley Hollingsworth, a senior county building inspector in charge of demolitions.

Other residents of the small lots acknowledged Tuesday they are also under pressure from the county.

‘Don’t Bug Anybody’

“They’ve thrown out five or six guys already because there are a few people who don’t want us here,” said Phil Rodriquez, 61, who lives with his wife, Martha, in an 18-foot travel trailer near Overlock’s sheds. “We don’t bug anybody. We’re staying until they throw us out.”

Wayne Gonce, who lives in a converted truck trailer and has built a small stucco garage on two lots he owns, said he has hired an attorney to help protect his investment. He said he paid $7,000 for the lots three years ago and “got taken” on the deal.

“We’re close to having a shooting up here,” Gonce, 57, said. “People have come down to my property with guns. Next time someone waves a pistol at me, the shooting starts.”