SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Builder, City Locked in Battle Over House

It’s called, derisively, “the battle of porcupine hill,” a fight by developer Robert Maurer to build his dream home on a prominent hilltop overlooking the city.

Maurer, a successful South County developer and former partner of Donald L. Bren in the original Mission Viejo Co., is battling a city committed by law to saving its ridgelines.

Tonight, a portion of that battle is expected to be fought before the City Council, where Maurer hopes to win permission to build at least a barn on the land, for now, to help maintain the property.

The larger battle began 17 months ago when the city denied Maurer’s plans to build a manse on the hilltop overlooking Interstate 5. Maurer claims that his plans were approved in 1978 and predate the city’s 1989 ridgeline law, which would prohibit the construction. Both sides have hired high-priced law firms, and Maurer has filed suit.

So far, however, the dream house is on hold, and 87 spindly date palms Maurer had trucked in from Rancho Mirage are the only things visible on his 42-acre property.

Now a 15,000-square-foot barn he wants to construct farther down the hillside has been dragged into the fray.

Because the hilltop property has been in the city’s agricultural preserve since 1979, Maurer claims that his barn is needed to help tend the property. The barn would be divided into office space, equipment and material storage, a garage and a 2,250-square-foot house for a caretaker.

But Thomas G. Merrell, the city’s director of planning, refused to let his department process plans for the barn last November. Maurer has appealed to the council for help.

Mark Maurer, who has been doing the footwork in the fight for his father, claims that the barn rejection is harassment.

“This is just another barrel in the gun,” Mark Maurer said. “I think everything the city does to us is linked. I started talking to the Planning Department on this last June 6, and then we got a letter in November saying (Merrell) had halted all processing. That’s not fair. He runs us through hoops making us spend lots of money, and then he pulls this stuff.”

Mayor Kenneth E. Friess denies any link between the barn and Maurer’s hopes to build a house. The house issue revolves around the ridgeline protection ordinance, Friess said, and the barn is a separate issue.

Besides the date palms, Maurer has not shown the city any notions of an agricultural use for the property, so the barn would be premature, Friess said.

“The barn is actually a huge home and office building,” Friess said. “It is supposed to be an accessory to some principal use for the property. To date, they haven’t shown us what that principal use is. If they would just be upfront about it, they would probably get an approval.”

Friess admits that fighting the Maurers is costing the city “a tremendous amount of money.” It is a cost that could double if the city loses the legal battle and has to pay for Maurer’s fees.

With all that is riding on the legal fight, however, a new wrinkle has been added. For the first time in a decade, the City Council has some new members.

At least one of them, Councilman Gil Jones, won’t tell which way he’s leaning.

“I’m going to take a strong position, but I won’t do it until the meeting,” Jones said. “I admit I’m hedging, but this is a very sensitive issue.”