TUSTIN : Apartment Dispute to Be Reconsidered

The City Council is scheduled to reconsider a controversial Pasadena Avenue apartment complex at its meeting tonight.

The apartments have been ready for occupancy for months, but outraged neighbors and the apartment’s developer have launched battles in the courts and in council chambers that have kept the units vacant.

The problems started last spring when city staff members discovered that neighbors on Myrtle and Corla avenues, behind the apartments, had not been notified of the 1989 public hearing at which a construction permit was issued.

The neighbors complained that the apartments overshadowed their homes, robbed them of privacy and lowered their property values. City officials declared the permit invalid and the council reconsidered approving occupancy of the apartments.

After several emotional public hearings and unsuccessful council-mandated negotiations between the neighbors and the developer, the council struck what it considered a compromise.

In a 3-2 vote, the council issued a conditional-use permit for the complex but ordered developer Feridoun Rezai to remove the top floor from the rear four units.

Neither Rezai nor nearby residents agreed with the decision, and both filed suit.

Last December, as a result of the neighbors’ suit, a Superior Court judge overturned the council’s decision and ordered it to consider the shade and shadows caused by the apartments and their effect on property values of nearby homes.

Rezai’s suit, which seeks $1 million in punitive damages along with compensation for lost income, reduced property value, additional construction, demolition costs and professional fees, is pending.