COSTA MESA : Council Orders Car Dealer to Erect Wall

A few dead plants briefly reignited a decade-old dispute between Nabers Buick and its neighbors this week.

Residents, whose homes abut the Harbor Boulevard dealership, told the City Council that the plants, which were put up in an effort to keep peace in the community, had not done the job. In the six months since they had been planted, residents said, the plants had not grown tall enough to screen their homes from customers who can peer into their back yards from an elevated car lot. And a couple of plants have even died.

Last month, frustrated neighbors persuaded the Planning Commission to order the dealer to forgo the plant screen and put up a wall. The dealer rejected the order, sparking yet another battle that Monday ended up once again in the council chambers.

The dealer “has proven to the neighborhood, the Planning Commission and the City Council that whatever decision comes down, he isn’t going to pay attention to it,” an exasperated Bud Lengtat told the council.

But dealership officials, who speculated that some of the plants had been sabotaged, said they had complied with city directives and asked that the plants be given another chance. “We have been through countless hours of this, and we have done everything to comply,” General Manager Don Partch said.

After several minutes of finger-pointing, the council once again tried to put a stop to the dispute, ordering the dealer to plant more trees and put up a temporary wall until the plants mature.

“I think the plants will do the job,” Councilman Jay Humphrey said.

The heated dispute began about a decade ago when residents began complaining about a range of problems, from the loud public-address system to employees taking up all the parking on their streets. One of their main complaints has been customers’ and salesmen’s peeking into their back yards from an elevated car lot.

In 1988, the council permitted the dealership to expand and took several steps to mollify the residents.

Last June, the council tried to end the battle by ordering the dealer to plant vegetation to improve privacy and cut down on the noise.

At the meeting this week, owner Dick Nabers told the council that he would sue if he was ordered to put up a permanent fence. He disputed contentions that he had been told the top level of the elevated lot could not be used by the sales staff to show cars.

Residents countered that they had been promised otherwise, and city officials said they were told by a Nabers employee that sales staff and customers would no longer be allowed on the top of the parking structure.

Despite the confusion, the council once again sought a compromise, ordering the temporary wall to separate the properties until the plants grow tall enough to work as a screen. The compromise was passed unanimously.