Rancho P.V. Suspends View Law

Rancho Palos Verdes will not enforce an 18-month-old ordinance aimed at restoring homeowners’ views until a Superior Court lawsuit challenging its constitutionality has been decided, city officials announced Friday.

City Council members, meeting in closed session Thursday night, voted 4 to 1 to halt all activities of the 10-member citizens committee charged with enforcing the ordinance. The action was prompted by a lawsuit filed last month by seven residents.

The council also suspended the enforcement of any decision made by the citizens panel within the last year.

“The majority of the council felt the lawsuit created so much uncertainty whether or not the ordinance would be upheld,” said Mayor Douglas M. Hinchliffe, who cast the dissenting vote.

The ordinance, designed to restore homeowners’ views that have been obscured over the years by the growth of trees and other foliage, was approved by voters in November, 1989.

Under the law, the citizens group has the authority to determine whether a homeowner’s views have been blocked by a neighbor’s foliage and to order the foliage trimmed at the complainant’s expense. The committee’s decision cannot be appealed.

The residents’ suit alleges that the ordinance conflicts with existing city planning laws aimed at preserving natural vegetation. The suit also alleges that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it deprives residents of their property rights.

Michael Bak-Boychuk, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said the city acted properly by suspending all activities of the citizens committee until the lawsuit is resolved.

“I think it is only fair,” Bak-Boychuk said. “They have suspended their activity against my clients, and equal protection requires that they also suspend their activities against those who may not, for example, be able to afford my fees.”

Hinchliffe said he voted against halting the committee’s activities even though he favors temporarily suspending committee decisions pending the outcome of the lawsuit. He said it could be several years before the suit is resolved and that residents will be unable to seek the ordinance’s protections.

“It just bothers me (that) in light of this lawsuit we would suspend the whole banana, and part of it was a frustration with the fact that so much of government is now impacted by lawsuits,” Hinchliffe said.

Since the law went into effect, the citizens committee has received 27 applications from homeowners seeking to have their neighbors’ foliage trimmed, Hinchliffe said. In about a dozen cases, affected property owners have refused to abide by the committee’s ruling, he said.