Culver City : Deadline for Razing House

City officials have given a developer until Aug. 21 to start tearing down an abandoned hillside home that is being used as a late-night hangout by teen-agers.

The City Council voted 4 to 0 Monday to start a process that will enable the city to raze the home at 7000 Wrightcrest Drive and bill the owners, the Jensen Group, unless demolition begins by that date.

Marty Kapp, who lives next door, complained that groups of teen-agers use his driveway to reach the single-story home, where they make noise and keep him up at night. Kapp said the revelers have thrown rocks through his windows and damaged a gate in his driveway.

The home has been abandoned since the late ‘70s, Kapp said. “The kids all think it’s haunted.”

The Jensen Group purchased the property about two years ago as part of the proposed Vista Pacifica Project, a mixed-use development in the hills adjacent to Culver City Park. The developer offered to let the Fire Department use the home for training, but the department refused because of surrounding brush.

The Jensen Group has contracted with a demolition company and conducted asbestos testing on the home, according to staff reports, but the work is “not moving as fast as anticipated.”