House Paint Ruling Turns Dream Into ‘Nightmare’

When they became engaged two years ago, Denise Kartchner and Nick Karagozian planned to marry in the hillside home they were building.

But today the home remains vacant, by decree of the city’s powerful Design Review Board. The problem: The house is too white. And in Laguna Beach, the Design Review Board has final say.

For the Karagozians, the problem began last summer, with their home almost complete and a fall wedding approaching. By then, the couple already had agreed to change the color of the tile roof from blue to terra cotta, had changed the landscaping and the chimneys, lowered the roof and made the house 500 feet smaller--all at the insistence of the Design Review Board.

And they agreed on an exterior color, “sandstone,” which was satisfactory to the board.

But when the day came to buy paint, Nick Karagozian said, he went with “shell white,” which he thought was close enough. It wasn’t.

The Design Review Board has refused to give final approval to the house, and without that the city will not allow utility service.

“I thought, ‘This is crazy,’ ” Denise Karagozian said. “This house is turning into a nightmare.”

On Tuesday, fighting for what they considered a principle, the couple took their case to the City Council. The appeal was rejected, 4 to 0. A fifth council member was absent.

Critics of the Design Review Board say the Karagozians’ situation represents an ongoing problem in Laguna Beach. The five-member board, they say, has too much power and consists of City Council appointees who may or may not have experience in building design. City officials, however, say the board makes sure new homes fit into existing communities.

In Laguna Beach, every new building, every second-story addition and most projects which increase a home’s floor space by more than 50% must have the Design Review Board’s blessing.

At least four City Council votes are required to overturn a design review denial.

Last month, local architects formed the Architectural Guild of Laguna Beach to try to streamline the approval process, which is burdensome and arbitrary, they say. Because it also can take years, it can more than double a client’s bill.

Newport Beach architect Brion Jeannette, a member of the American Institute of Architects, said the process is more onerous in Laguna Beach than in other Orange County cities with design review boards. In Laguna, board members can withhold approval of a project even it meets all codes.

City officials say that subjectivity allows the board to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, thereby preserving the character of neighborhoods.

Neighbors usually like this screening, architect Mark Singer said--until they want to add on to their own houses.

“Then they’re in that terrifying position of being the applicant, and all of a sudden the process doesn’t seem so fair,” he said.

“It’s a tough situation for us down here,” architect Christian Abel said. “People walk out of there shaking their heads and saying, ‘Why do these people have this kind of power?’ ”

But Design Review Board Chairwoman Barbara Metzger said the board is just doing its job.

“We’re appointed by the City Council to serve the community, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “Our direction comes from the . . . municipal code and the general plan.”

In addition, the board relies heavily on opinions of neighbors, who testify at its hearings. The board shaped the Karagozians’ project partly from neighborhood input, members said. And a deal is a deal, they said.

“The applicant agreed to do it in ‘desert sandstone’ and that’s the way it was approved,” Metzger said. “We’re pretty serious about having things done the way they’ve been approved.”

But Nick Karagozian says he’s the one who was double-crossed.

Late last year, the Karagozians’ home was fully approved by the Design Review Board. And the couple had received signed permission from the city’s community development director, Kyle Butterwick, to substitute “shell white” for “sandstone.” Butterwick, all sides agree, has authority to allow minor changes like that.

Then a neighbor complained.

That prompted yet another hearing before the Design Review Board--the fifth for this house--at which Butterwick’s approval was overturned.

“This makes me angrier than anything,” Karagozian said.

Now the couple are considering dwindling options. They can restucco the house in the darker shade--at a cost of about $5,000, Butterwick estimates--or go to court. A simple coat of sandstone paint won’t do, the Design Review Board says; the deal was for stucco.

Whichever their choice, Nick Karagozian said, their dream has soured.

“The thing of it is, it should be a pleasant experience,” he said. “It should have been fun, it should have been exciting. But all of that was taken away.”

On Tuesday, hours before the City Council meeting, Denise Karagozian, now five months pregnant, began hanging wallpaper in the nursery of the empty house.

“I’m trying to do the baby’s room, because I’m trying to keep my spirits high,” she said. “Hopefully, we can have the baby here.”