‘Porterville’ Figure Still Does It His Way

A year ago embattled contractor Sam Porter had his wagons drawn and was hurling well-aimed verbal potshots at county building inspectors, fellow board members of the Trabuco Canyon Water District, mega-developer William Lyon and anyone else who sought to meddle with his unconventional ideas.

“People have described me as cantankerous and difficult, but I’m like Jim Bowie at the Alamo, I never run away,” he said in an interview then.

One of the more “difficult” of his ideas was embodied by “Porterville,” an enclave of ramshackle huts, boxcars and abandoned buses that came to be occupied by several homeless and low-income working families on Porter’s 280-acre Trabuco Highlands ranch.

County health and fire officials said the structures did not meet building codes and ordered the settlement closed.

In addition, Porter was accused by his water board colleagues of illegally hooking several of the structures in Porterville to a single water meter. They sued him over it, and it came to be known as the Trabuco Water Wars.

There was also the matter of Porter’s long-running dispute with developer Lyon, who is building upscale homes on a ridge overlooking Porter’s ranch. Porter claimed that the Lyon Co. reneged on a promise to build a road to his hard-to-reach hilltop home--a promise made, according to Porter, in return for his dismantling the unsightly shantytown.

At one point, Porter was threatening to thumb his nose at everyone by building a settlement of Quonset huts for the poor.

These days, Porter is still feuding with many of his neighbors, and he remains as voluble, controversial and colorful as ever.

He finally agreed (albeit under court order) to settle his differences with the water district and has disconnected the disputed water lines. A “spirit of amicability has settled over the board,” he said.

However, Porterville not only still stands but has increased its population (about 85 families), even though Porter says he is trying to comply with county demands.

“It is a slow process; they have nowhere else to go,” he said. “There are a myriad of problems, but I have promised that they are moving.”

Porter, 62 and originally from Ogden, Utah, found his way to El Toro nearly 40 years ago and, as a cement contractor, literally laid the foundation of cities like Mission Viejo.

He was elected to his water board seat in 1985 as a maverick “out to shake things up.”

In 1988, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Board of Supervisors against incumbent Gaddi H. Vasquez. He remains a vocal critic of local government and, in particular, its handling of development in the county.

The Lyon Co., which he refers to as a “powerful enemy” and in other more colorful terms, has come in for much of Porter’s wrath.

Beside the “road deal,” Porter alleges that company officials refused to provide him access to water lines located on property owned by the company. As a result, Porter says his family had to move out of its home for more than two months last summer because there was not enough water pressure.

“What he wanted from us was to hook into the water lines that the company is building for its developments in the Trabuco Canyon area,” said Lyon Co. spokesman Rick Sherman. “We offered to sell an easement for a nominal sum ($15,000), and he refused to pay it.”

As for the “road deal,” Sherman said the company did in fact grade a dirt road onto Porter’s property. “We categorically deny that Lyon has in any way reneged on any agreement with Mr. Porter,” he added.

The sniping between Porter and the Lyon Co. is not likely to abate any time soon. The company won a judgment against Porter in Superior Court ordering him not to trespass and has filed another suit alleging that Porter defamed and libeled William Lyon on a series of banners and picket signs displayed prominently around Lyon developments.

It has been, said Porter, a “tremendous year.” But he harbors no regrets.

“I wish I had not had to do some of the things I’ve done, but I would never back down,” said the man given to comparing himself to Stonewall Jackson and Leonidas.

In fact, Porter is busy developing plans that will keep him occupied for at least another year, he says.

He is preparing a campaign-reform measure for the supervisors that would include a provision establishing citizen review committees in each district. In what he concedes is a novel approach, developers would be required to match political contributions with contributions to the citizen committees.