Santa Clarita Will Ask Court to Close Down VFW Post : Communities: The city says residents have complained about inebriated patrons spending the night in campers outside the facility. A hearing is due Oct. 29.

Attorneys for the city of Santa Clarita say they intend to file a complaint today in Los Angeles Superior Court asking the court to do what the city has so far failed to accomplish: shut down a Veterans of Foreign Wars bar and meeting hall.

The complaint, Assistant City Atty. Timothy B. McOsker said Monday, would not affect a temporary stay issued against the city on Sept. 18 by Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien.

O’Brien blocked the city’s attempt to close the facility, suspending enforcement of a city order until an Oct. 29 hearing in his court.

McOsker said the complaint to be filed with O’Brien today would serve notice that the city intends to seek a preliminary injunction upholding the city’s closure order.

He added, however, that before the court can consider ordering an injunction, the city must formally state its case in a court petition to be made available to VFW attorneys no later than Oct. 14, or 15 days before the Oct. 29 hearing.

The action today clears the way for the city to ask at that hearing for an immediate injunction closing the meeting hall.

A yearlong dispute between the city and members of VFW Post No. 6885 moved to the courtroom 11 days ago after the veterans openly defied the city’s Aug. 27 closure order.

The city contended that residents of nearby Sand Canyon had complained that twice last summer some patrons of the bar who had had too much to drink were allowed to sleep overnight in campers in the post’s parking lot.

City officials said this violated an agreement that had been negotiated this year among the city, Post No. 6885 and neighbors, prohibiting on-site camping.

On Sept. 2, the veterans kept the meeting hall open in defiance of the city’s order. On Sept. 8, the Santa Clarita City Council countered by unanimously ordering the veterans to shut it down.

Again, the veterans resisted. On Sept. 18, their attorney, Gary Symonds, challenged the city’s order in court, contending that the veterans were denied due process and that the city had defined “camping” too broadly.

The judge issued a temporary stay until Oct. 29, but upheld the on-site camping ban.