SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Planner Overruled on Hilltop ‘Barn’

Overriding the city planning director, the City Council this week voted to allow a landowner to proceed with plans to build a 15,000-square-foot structure on a hilltop.

The unanimous vote upheld an appeal by landowner and developer Robert Maurer, who owns the highly visible 42 acres, which are subject to an ordinance prohibiting ridgeline development.

The plans submitted to the city include a 2,250-square-foot caretaker’s home, 9,625 square feet of storage space, 2,000 square feet of office space and a 1,375-square-foot garage--all within a building that Maurer calls a “barn.”

The community gave the site the not-so-affectionate nickname Porcupine Hill after Maurer last year planted 87 date palms to qualify the property for tax exemptions as an agricultural site.

Mark Maurer, spokesman for his father, said continued agricultural and horticultural uses are planned for the property, which is why the structure is being requested, along with some irrigation pipes.

Some city residents suggest that Maurer is trying to skirt a law prohibiting such construction. In 1989, a city ridgeline preservation law barred construction within 200 feet of a hilltop.

Maurer is suing the city, saying he had obtained verbal approval of his plans in the mid-1970s.

The council’s action Tuesday overrode Planning Director Thomas G. Merrell and cleared the way for Maurer’s plans to continue through the approval process.