City Planning to Fence In Junk-Strewn House : Charred Lancaster Home of Water Board Member Called a ‘Safety Hazard’

Lancaster city authorities, after years of skirmishes with an Antelope Valley water board member over junk stored at his home, want to erect a locked fence around the debris-strewn, burned remnants of the house, which he is accused of setting afire.

Glenn Martin, who has twice been convicted of violating municipal ordinances against storing junk on his property, was arrested Monday on suspicion of arson for a fire that damaged his Lancaster home July 20. He is free on $10,000 bail.

Since the fire, city property code enforcement officers have tried unsuccessfully to find Martin and make him close off his property, saying the damaged house--with its accumulation of machinery, car parts, airplane parts and other metal debris amid overgrown weeds--is a danger to neighborhood children.

So officials decided to erect a locked, chain-link fence along two unenclosed sides of the lot. They were seeking bids on the project Thursday.

“The structure is a safety hazard,” said code officer Theresa Stouten. “There’s burned timber, the roof is partly down, there’s danger of collapse. We do need to contact him, because we’re going to be locking the property. We want to give him a key.”

Martin, 66, a retired fighter pilot who served in World War II, was unavailable for comment. George Lane, president of the seven-member Antelope Valley East Kern Water Agency on which Martin has served 13 years, said Martin may be living in a mobile home he owns.

Lane, describing Martin as a loner, said he does not know the location of the mobile home. He said that although Martin’s troubles cast “some reflection on the agency, we’re not taking a position for or against him. It’s up to the courts.”

Martin, who was elected to his fourth four-year term in November, attended Tuesday’s regularly scheduled board meeting, Lane said.

Stouten said that, after a hearing, Martin could be required to pay for installation of the fence, which she estimated would cost about $2,000.

She said complaints about Martin’s property date back 15 years.

Martin is free pending appeal of his conviction last year on four counts of unlawfully parking vehicles and storing junk on his property. He was fined $2,250 and sentenced to serve 21 days in jail.

His appeal will be heard in Antelope Valley Municipal Court next Friday. He will be arraigned on the arson charges Aug. 17.

In 1987, Martin was forced to pay $12,000 for a city cleanup of his property after being convicted of violating a city ordinance against storing junk, Stouten said.

Probation records show he was charged in 1983 with resisting arrest during an altercation with deputies after a routine traffic stop and served 10 days in jail, she said.