ORANGE COUNTY LETTERS : City Officials Are There to Protect Humans’ Interests

I offer this letter in response to referenced article (“A Neighborhood Flap in Laguna Niguel,” Dianne Klein column, Sept. 1) and in support of homeowner Ed Beveridge .

The Pacific Wildlife Project is clearly an invaluable service. However, you fail to discuss the true implication on neighborhood home values by the incompatible use of the Evanses’ residential address as a bird shelter.

If Mr. Beveridge’s neighborhood is not governed by a set of CC&Rs;, his predicament is precisely the reason why many residents of Laguna Niguel’s newer tracts should be happy that they are covered. I sincerely hope that the neighbors of the Evanses do not need to sell their home at present. If they would, the presence of the bird project may bring certain realities home. It is one thing to support the cause of the Evanses, but to sell or rent out a home next door or across the street is another.

In the absence of local CC&Rs;, the city has the (moral) obligation to look after its citizens’ interests first, and after birds second. With the glut of non-residential buildings currently available in this town, surely the city can be creative and find a better and more suitable home for the birds. Or is the city willing to make up for the diminished home values its admitted lack of code enforcement will likely create, and what precedent is the city setting? Is it now OK to turn my back yard into a caring sanctuary for anything that creeps, crawls, limps or flies?

George Philip Winckel

Laguna Niguel