Judge Blocks Santa Clarita Order to Shut Veterans Hall : Courts: The bar and meeting place can remain open until an Oct. 29 hearing. The city had closed it after receiving complaints about noise.

A Los Angeles judge on Thursday blocked an attempt by the city of Santa Clarita to shut down a Veterans of Foreign Wars bar and meeting hall, suspending enforcement of a city order until a hearing in his court on Oct. 29.

Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien ruled that VFW Post 6885 may remain open until that date, but upheld an on-site camping ban imposed by the city in March.

Attorney Gary Symonds, representing the veterans, had challenged a city order, issued Aug. 27, requiring the post to close immediately because of alleged violations of the VFW post’s agreement with Santa Clarita to prohibit camping there.

The city, responding to complaints from residents of nearby Sand Canyon, charged that some veterans were excessively noisy.

City officials said that twice last summer some who had been drinking were allowed to sleep overnight in campers on the post parking lot.

The yearlong dispute escalated Sept. 2 when veterans defied the city’s closure order, vowing to take their case to court.

In the VFW’s petition filed Thursday, Symonds argued that the veterans had been denied due process and that the city had defined “camping” too broadly. The petition also stated that City Council members who own property in the neighborhood had conflicts of interest.

The petition did not identify the council members.

According to the petition, Symonds asked for transcripts of both an Aug. 27 administrative hearing, in which Santa Clarita City Manager George A. Caravalho issued a closure order, and a Sept. 8 meeting in which the City Council, in the face of the post’s refusal to comply, unanimously ordered the shutdown.

The veterans had no opportunity to present or cross-examine witnesses at the administrative hearing, nor were witnesses placed under oath, the petition added.

“That hearing was literally a star-chamber proceeding,” Symonds commented Thursday. “They just said, in effect, ‘Here it is--it’s a done thing. Go peddle your papers somewhere else. You’re guilty.’ ”

Timothy B. McOsker, assistant Santa Clarita city attorney, said the city expects to appeal the judge’s action “within the next few days.”

Meanwhile, the veterans promised to continue their campaign to keep the post open.

“We’ve won a skirmish,” said Lou Hunt, 62, the post’s quartermaster. “We’re not lying down, I can assure you.”