HUNTINGTON BEACH : Developer Grades Some Private Lots

Owners of seven narrow lots that the city wants for a street-widening project are angry that a developer has begun grading their land for the project without their permission.

The Dahl Co., which has agreed to widen a stretch of Ellis Avenue west of Golden West Street, also has removed fences and signs from some of the properties, piled mounds of dirt on the lots and begun laying storm-drain pipes, property owners say.

The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution stating that the city needs the properties along the south side of Ellis for the street-widening project. That vote moves the city closer to obtaining the lots through its power of eminent domain.

But for now, the city owns only five of the 12 lots, measuring 112 feet by 25 feet, that it needs to improve Ellis Avenue. As a result, the holdout owners of the other seven lots charge that the developer’s work on their property amounts to illegal trespassing and are demanding compensation for damages they say they have suffered.

City Engineer Robert Eichblatt called the developer’s actions a “snafu” but said the city is not required to monitor the company’s activities related to the project.

“The developer knows that we don’t own the land yet,” he said Tuesday. “And the city doesn’t have any kind of notice-to-proceed it has to send to a developer.”

He, added, however, that he does not believe that the developer has violated any law by its activities on the private properties.

“It’s tacky, if nothing else,” Eichblatt said. “But I don’t think there’s any willful wrongdoing on the developer’s part,” he said. “There may be some embarrassment (for Dahl Co.), but these things happen.”

Dahl Co. officials were not available for comment Tuesday.

The city is offering $10,000 for each of the tiny parcels, while owners say tax assessors value the properties at $13,077 each. And one of the owners, Randi Fjaeran, said that she sold two of her four targeted lots last month for “substantially” more than the tax-roll assessment, although she would not reveal the exact amount.

Location of Lots Property needed street widening