MIRA MONTE : Homeowners Want Age Limits Enforced

A Mira Monte homeowners group is seeking a court order to keep its condominium complex limited to senior citizens.

The Ojai Woodlands Homeowners’ Assn. is asking a Ventura County Superior Court judge to extend two restraining orders against developers Dale and Dana Champion and Arthur Balchen of the Mira Monte Group.

The homeowners claim the Ojai developers are allowing people to live in the condominiums who do not meet the age restrictions specified in the subdivision’s conditions, covenants and restrictions.

Neither Balchen nor the Champions could be reached for comment.

The Mira Monte Group built the 29-unit complex on Woodland Avenue near California 33 and began selling residences in 1988, under the conditions that one occupant had to be at least 62 years old and the other at least 45, said the association’s attorney, James P. Lingl of Camarillo.

“They started breaking the rules almost immediately,” said Florence Savage, 65, whose husband, Harold J. Savage, 71, is president of the homeowners association. “It’s been a real nightmare.”

The association got a temporary restraining order last month, Lingl said, to keep the Mira Monte Group from selling residences without telling potential buyers of the age limits and to prevent the developers from renting to younger tenants.

A second restraining order was issued later in August to prevent an unnamed couple from moving into one of the dwellings, Lingl said.

“We put a stop to the couple, two kids in the 20s with a young baby,” Florence Savage said. “We moved here for people our own age. There’s nothing for children to do here and nowhere to play.”