LAGUNA BEACH : City Appeals in Fight Over ‘Granny Flats’

The city has appealed to the state Supreme Court to settle a bitter four-year battle over the future of South Laguna’s second residential units, also known as bootleg apartments or “granny flats.”

The city filed a petition Monday with the high court, after an appeals court ruled last month that a city law governing the add-on dwellings cannot be applied to South Laguna.

Harold L. Wilson, one of two plaintiffs in the original class-action suit against the city, said his attorneys still think that their case is “bulletproof.”

“It’s just some more wasting of the taxpayers’ money in Laguna Beach,” Wilson said. “We’re naturally concerned, but I’ve been concerned for four years over this matter.”

While second residential units have been built throughout the city, they proliferated in South Laguna under more relaxed county standards before the area’s annexation to Laguna Beach in 1987. Up to 600 such units exist in South Laguna, Wilson said, including subdivided homes, converted garages and detached apartments.

Since annexation, the units have sparked tensions between the city and South Laguna residents who own or rent them.

Proponents say the add-ons provide affordable housing for renters while allowing property owners a source of income they need to pay their mortgages. Opponents say they have contributed to South Laguna’s parking and crowding problems.

In 1988, the city began advising landlords that their second residential units will be inspected. The city contended that the apartments will have to conform to city building codes and provide adequate parking, or they will have to be dismantled.

Property owners, who sued the city in response, lost the first legal round in a 1990 Superior Court decision. However, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled May 11 that a law governing second residential units adopted after annexation could not be applied to South Laguna.

The appeals court said the city should use state law as its criteria when approving permits for add-on dwellings. State law does not condition such approval on the availability of off-street parking, a scarce commodity in South Laguna.

The state Supreme Court should decide within 60 days whether to hear the case. Until then, City Atty. Philip Kohn said the city will take no action regarding the bootleg apartments.

“Until there is a determination by the Supreme Court, the case is still not final for any purposes,” Kohn said. “Basically, the city has determined to put everything on a holding pattern until there’s some final resolution to the case, either by action or inaction by the Supreme Court.”