Private School Closed by IRS After Failing to Pay Taxes

A private school in Irvine, already under court order to close Jan. 1, has been shut down by the Internal Revenue Service because its owner has failed to pay $53,649 in back taxes, federal officials said Thursday.

Pacific Shores Private School, an 80-student high school operating in an office building at the former Lion Country Safari animal park, was closed late Wednesday afternoon by IRS agents who this week obtained a federal court order.

Sally Ruhnau, an IRS spokeswoman in Santa Ana, said the owner of Pacific Shores, Mark Weichel of Mission Viejo, had ignored repeated letters and warnings from the agency to pay delinquent employment taxes dating back to January, 1987.

“Nothing seemed to work, so we were forced to close down the school,” said Ruhnau, who added that any “good-faith effort” on Weichel’s part to pay the taxes would result in the closure order being “immediately lifted.” She said Weichel, 37, does not have to repay the entire amount before the school is reopened.

School Founded 5 Years Ago

Weichel, reached at home Thursday night, said he plans to meet with IRS officials today and predicted that the 4-year high school would reopen this afternoon. Weichel, who founded the school 5 years ago in a Laguna Hills office complex, said he is prepared to pay a portion of the taxes but would not say how much. He also refused to say why he had not kept current on the taxes.

Weichel’s tax troubles are only the latest stumbling block in his bid to establish Pacific Shores as a college preparatory school.

Last month, Weichel was fined $1,000 and ordered by Harbor Municipal Judge Russell A. Bostrom to permanently cease operating the school at its current location on Irvine Center Drive near the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

The ruling stemmed from a court action filed by the city of Irvine against Weichel on grounds of operating the school within the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station’s crash zone without a conditional use permit, said Bob Storchheim, an Irvine building and safety official. The school, less than a mile from the junction of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways, is under a primary landing and takeoff corridor for military jet fighter planes.

Weichel said he moved his school to the Irvine site in April, 1987, leasing 4,000 square feet of the former animal park’s administrative headquarters from the building’s owner, Harry Schuster. Weichel said he was under the impression that the facility was situated on unincorporated county land and that he did not need Irvine city approval to operate or modify the structure.

Weichel, who oversees a staff of 15 instructors, spent $10,000 to convert several offices into classrooms.

Storchheim said Weichel never contacted the city about his plans to relocate in Irvine. “We found out about it when one of our inspectors who was at the Wild Rivers amusement park nearby spotted some construction going at the school,” he said. “We discovered the guy didn’t have one permit.”

Weichel received several requests from city planners to apply for a conditional use permit but never followed through, prompting the lawsuit, Storchheim said.

Weichel said Schuster never told him that the area was within city limits or that the building was within a special military zone. “I won’t say we were led astray,” Weichel said, “but it is clear we weren’t told some things until after we signed the lease.”

Schuster could not be reached for comment.

Weichel said he is looking for a south county site to relocate his school. Classes end Dec. 16 for the holidays, and Weichel said he expects the school to reopen Jan. 3 at a new location.