A Family Feud : Coastal Canyon Causes Rift Between Neighbors

Looking across the steep ravine that has caused so much turmoil in her neighborhood, Charlene Dapelo admits that the feud has gone too far.

“This is one of those things that you think could never happen to you. But when you get egos involved, no one wants to back down,” she said.

The Dapelos and the Carters, next-door neighbors on the bluffs of the Palisades area, used to be friends. But barbecues, football games and shared bottles of wine have been replaced by lawsuits, taunts and even egg-throwing.

What triggered the rift was, literally, a canyon. A deep ravine called Palisades Canyon by some of the locals has been graded, filled in and fenced by the Dapelos, an act that infuriated the Carters. It also angered the Audubon Society and county officials, who call the canyon a “priceless ecosystem.”

“There has been a violation of the public trust here that is very serious,” said Marie Patterson, vice president of the South Coast Audubon Society and a 20-year Capistrano Beach resident.

The Carters and the Dapelos are now speaking only through attorneys. The Carters sued the Dapelos, claiming emotional distress, and the Dapelos countersued, alleging trespassing and claiming their own emotional distress. A restraining order obtained by the Carters prohibits the two men from getting within 10 feet of each other.

By appearances, the Carters and the Dapelos are two fortunate families. Both own spacious, multistory homes near the beach, complete with outdoor spas and sunset views. There are Volvos, Mercedes-Benzes, vans and Jeeps in the driveways.

The story of the two families and the canyon actually begins about five years ago, when the Palisades section, just above Coast Highway and Beach Road, was in an unincorporated area of the county.

The Dapelos were there first, moving into their Camino Capistrano home with a view of the Pacific Ocean in 1985.

An attorney who also owns a travel agency, Gary Dapelo claims that he had a written agreement from the county allowing him to subdivide his property, which includes the canyon that dipped 50 feet down.

“It was part of my escrow,” said Dapelo, a former member of the Dana Point Specific Plan Board of Review, an agency that helped plan the city before it incorporated 18 months ago and which includes Capistrano Beach. So in early 1986, he began interviewing engineering firms to launch a project that included massive amounts of fill dirt, an approximately 18,000-square-foot yard, new landscaping, a new drainage system for the canyon and a view deck and spa.

The next year, the Carters arrived. James Carter, a gynecologist, his wife, Grace, and their daughter moved into a two-story home just up the coast from the Dapelos. In fact, the Carters must drive over the Dapelos’ property to get to their home.

The two families shared more than a property line and a view of the steep canyon that meandered down the hillside and emptied out at Coast Highway. They also shared the dream that the canyon area could be turned into a useful playground for the entire neighborhood to share, according to Dapelo.

“I went to (Carter) and the rest of the neighborhood with schematic drawings,” Dapelo said. “He loved the idea and told me he would help prepare a petition and get it signed for me. We talked about the first football game we would all play on the lawn.”

Dapelo, an avowed sports addict, said this was the yard he always wanted for his two sons.

“This is my field of dreams,” he said.

Carter remembers things differently.

“My involvement really began on a good-neighbor basis,” he said. “(Dapelo) approached me asking for help in making the canyon a better canyon. He told me he was going to install a new pipe to change the water flow. But, to make a long story short, once I found out there was a county preservation easement on the property, it caused me to think ‘Maybe this isn’t a good idea after all.’ ”

The battle with Dapelo has turned him into an environmentalist, Carter says.

“I was never an environmentalist before this,” he said. “But now that I’ve found out the kinds of fights they’ve been fighting, I appreciate their cause.”

The women agree with their husbands. Charlene Dapelo claims that Carter was enthusiastic about the idea until the Dapelos installed a fence enclosing their property and the canyon.

“(Carter) loved the idea last December and January. But he wanted a wrought-iron fence--that’s what made him mad,” she said. “That man is not doing this for the birds and animals here. The orange wall says it all.”

The wall that faces the Dapelo property, on Carter’s otherwise white house, has been painted orange. James Carter says it is the Chinese way of bringing prosperity to a home. Gary Dapelo says it is a thinly disguised way to harass him.

“It sits right in front of my view, and he has spotlights on it at night,” Dapelo said. “This whole thing is very bizarre.”

Carter also has placed video cameras throughout his property, which he claims are for protection and not to spy on the Dapelos, of which he says he has been accused.

Both sides agree that the environmental easement, which prohibits grading, filling or removal of natural plants in the ravine, exists. County records show that it was granted on Nov. 14, 1984.

What does remain in question is why the easement was not revealed when Dapelo applied for a grading permit. County officials blame the new city of Dana Point and its new staff.

“Whoever evaluated the permit did so without any consideration of the local coastal plan or the resources of the area,” said Eric Jessen, chief of planning and acquisitions for the county Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks.

“So then the guy got out there with his tractor and ripped the hell out of the canyon. In our opinion, this is utterly unconscionable. We were literally horrified by what happened,” Jessen said. “This is one of only two or three natural canyons that punctuate the Palisades bluff. One must understand that this is a little, natural ecosystem oasis, of which there are precious few near the shoreline.”

Audubon Society officials see the protection of this canyon as a litmus test for environmental easements all over the county.

“We’re really outraged that an easement has been totally ignored,” Patterson said. “We’ve been fighting this kind of thing all over the county. If this can happen here, and the man is not required to make restitution, what will stop it from happening all over the county?”

Dapelo, however, contends that he has upgraded the canyon. He claims to have spent $400,000 grading, sodding and replanting the area, as well as installing a storm drain underneath his new lawn.

“This was a murky hole where my kids could have fallen in and drowned,” he said. “I graded the region to protect further damage to the slopes. I didn’t remove any native plants; I got rid of a lot of snakes and mosquitoes. I had the vector-control people here twice a week before this.”

Sorting out the details of the tangled dispute now lies in the hands of the Dana Point Planning Commission. That body convened at the site of the Carter and Dapelo homes Tuesday evening and met later to discuss the problem.

The recommendation from the Dana Point city staff to its Planning Commission is leave the canyon alone and not require Dapelo to return it to its previous state.

“After reviewing the staff study, I don’t know how much is really to be gained by tearing it all out now,” said Ed Knight, the director of community development.