Duplexes Divide Beach Residents : Housing: A county supervisor asks the public to inform authorities about illegal rentals. Some residents say they are being asked to ‘snitch.’

Glen Farr and his wife, Karen, packed up their two children last year and moved from a shady single-family neighborhood in Ventura to Hollywood by-the-Sea, an unincorporated neighborhood on the beach near Oxnard’s border.

Although Farr said he and his family love living by the shore in the house they had specially built for them, he is now thinking about moving back to the kind of neighborhood he left behind.

The reason, he said, is that his neighborhood has become increasingly noisy and congested because homeowners have illegally converted their residences into duplexes and have rented out either one or both units.

The practice, which city and county officials say is prevalent up and down the coast, leads to parking problems, a heavy strain on sewer and water systems and late-night parties that keep neighbors up until all hours, Farr said.

“We just want to be in a predominantly owner-occupied neighborhood again,” he said.

Complaints about illegal duplexes prompted Supervisor John Flynn to send a letter in July to about 1,600 residents living in the beach communities in his district. The letter asks that they report all illegal conversions to the authorities.

Flynn’s letter said illegal duplexes result in “additional cars which park helter-skelter on narrow streets, often blocking emergency vehicle access and contributing to existing parking problems.”

Bob Crim, deputy chief of operations for the county Fire Protection District, said firefighters have had many problems trying to get fire trucks around the parked cars on some of the older, narrower streets in the county’s beach communities.

“We have to slow up considerably to get through,” he said, adding that the problem is worse when the department’s ladder truck is involved. The trucks are 48 feet long and have a turning radius of about 60 feet.

Flynn’s letter, which was sent to residents in unincorporated communities such as Hollywood Beach and Hollywood by-the-Sea, as well as neighborhoods within the borders of Oxnard, such as Mandalay Bay and Oxnard Shores, resulted in the identification of 15 illegal duplexes.

It also has generated a backlash from residents who think that the supervisor is asking them to “snitch” on their neighbors.

“I was offended by the letter,” said Michael Erickson, who owns a residence on Ocean Drive near the Channel Islands Harbor. “It’s like turning people into snitches or turning people into cops.”

Flynn concedes that his letter may have angered some residents. But he said he believes that the letter also made residents aware of how serious the problem is to the county.

Since the July letter, the county has received 40 complaints, according to a county official. Before the letter, the official said, the county had been receiving 15 complaints a month.

“People have complained about this for years,” Flynn said. “We haven’t been able to get a handle on it, and I think we are getting a handle on it now.”

Farr learned last year that his neighbors don’t take kindly to people who turn a neighbor into the law.

Soon after he moved to Hollywood by-the-Sea, Farr told county officials about a neighbor who had illegally converted his residence into a duplex. Since then, Farr has been the target of dirty looks and rude comments from neighbors and even an anonymous threat on the phone.

“There are two others on my street that I would have liked to turn in, but the individuals are less than cordial so I’m reluctant to do so,” he said.

City and county officials said the root of the problem is the temptation for easy money. Homeowners near the beach know that renters are willing to pay up to $700 a month to rent a small unit anywhere within walking distance of the beach, they said.

“It’s simply that people want to make the most of their investment,” Flynn said. “They want to reap the greatest amount of dollars for land they own.”

“It’s really a case of greedy landlords,” Farr said.

In his letter to residents, Flynn said the illegal units are usually created by installing kitchens and bathrooms in garages, or by sealing off the first floor of a multistory residence and adding a kitchen and a bathroom. Sometimes this is done by converting a wet bar into a kitchen, according to the letter.

In most cases, illegal conversions are not noticeable from the street, said Richard McIntosh, a code enforcement official for the city of Oxnard. City and county code enforcement officials only investigate such violations upon a complaint from a neighbor, he said.

If an illegal conversion is found, however, the homeowner is given a notice to correct the violation within 30 days, McIntosh said. If the conversion is not corrected, the homeowner can be found guilty of a misdemeanor, which includes a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, he said.

While several beach homeowners said they have seen the problems that result from illegal duplexes, none said they would report a neighbor to authorities.

Jan and Chuck Wight have lived on Cahuenga Drive, between the Channel Islands Harbor and the border of Port Hueneme, for 50 years. They said they know of some homeowners who have allowed three to four couples to take over a residence.

“They bring cars and dogs with them,” Jan Wight said. “It’s been an ongoing problem for years.”

But they both said they would never report an illegal conversion to authorities.

“The parking problem is the biggest problem,” said Jack Miser, who has lived on Ocean Drive near the Channel Islands Harbor for 14 years. He estimated that only 40% of the residences in his neighborhood are owner-occupied.

He refuses, however, to report to the county the illegal conversions that he knows exist near his house.

“I’m not going to be a policeman for him,” he said, referring to Flynn. “He has all sorts of people to do that.”