Fees for Tract Delayed After Buyers Protest

Responding to protests from residents of a new housing tract, the Simi Valley City Council has decided to delay plans enabling a developer to charge the property owners $140 a month for services and utilities.

About 50 homeowners in the Greenbriar tract, built by Griffin Homes, told the council during a public hearing Monday night that the developer had misinformed them about the assessment fees.

Had they known that they would have to pay an extra $140 a month for the next 20 years, they said, referring to the assessment, they never would have bought their houses. They said the assessment fee would hurt the resale value of the 63 houses at the area southwest of Royal Avenue and Corto Street.

“We were totally misinformed,” said homeowner Judith Owen.

Owen said Griffin sales representatives told her and her husband Richard that there could be an assessment fee to pay for construction of sewers and streets but downplayed the possibility.

Sales representatives said such a fee would in no way amount to $140 a month, she said.

“We told a sales representative that we were uncomfortable . . . and his reaction was, ‘Don’t worry about it . . . it probably won’t happen anyway,’ ” Owen said.

“I am sure that if this information had been communicated to any of our lenders, we would not have qualified for our home,” Owen said. “Therefore I believe a direct intent of concealment was made by Griffin Homes. They should be held accountable for fraud and deceptive tactics.”

“The salespeople obscured the facts,” homeowner Tim Hodge said. “They misrepresented how much it would cost.”

But Charles J. Dragicevich, senior vice president of Griffin Homes, said that the developer had acted in good faith and that buyers were aware of the possible assessment fee. He said each of the 63 homeowners in the subdivision signed a disclosure statement informing them of the potential fee before the close of escrow. In some cases, buyers signed a statement months before closure, he said.

“We are chagrined this whole thing happened,” he said. “Our intent was right and honorable. We tried to do everything humanly possible in telling them everything we could” about the assessment fee.

Dragicevich said Griffin was willing to reduce the amount each property owner would have to pay by $1,500.

After the hearing, the council directed its staff to try to find a way to pare down the assessment fees. The council, however, noted that the city entered into an agreement with the developer in 1989 to form an assessment district in the Greenbriar tract and is limited in what it can do to remedy the situation.

Council members said the homeowners should file a lawsuit if they believe that the developer misled them.

“We’re not the body that makes those kinds of decisions,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “We’re not a judge. We’re not a jury.”

The staff is scheduled to report back to the council on the matter at its Dec. 17 meeting.

Many of the Greenbriar residents said they will wait to find out what the city might do before deciding whether to sue.