Man Battles Brea Officials on Several Fronts : Politics: William Vega has fought the city since it tried to acquire his mother’s property four years ago. The former council candidate says he’s exercising his rights, but foes call him an opportunist.

Friends call him a tireless activist and a defender of ordinary people bullied by the city government. They nearly elected him to the City Council in November.

Foes describe him as a charlatan, an opportunist wasting taxpayers’ money because of his penchant for asking for federal and state investigations into Brea city affairs that last year cost taxpayers more than $300,000.

One thing is certain, William Vega evokes strong emotions.

And that’s the way he likes it, he says.

“Hey, I’m just doing what any American would do,” said Vega, 37, who makes a living repairing foreign cars. “I’m exercising my rights under the Constitution.”

For the past four years, Vega has been battling city government. Since the Brea Redevelopment Agency tried to acquire his mother’s property for the widening of Imperial Highway, he has fought the city on many fronts.

He ran for one of two open seats on the City Council in November. He lost but garnered the third highest number of votes. He has sued the city and won a judgment that prevented Brea from taking his mother’s 14,000-square-foot property at Imperial Highway and Brea Boulevard.

Vega has spoken at practically every council meeting since 1989, and has helped create a coalition of merchants that has fought the city on the downtown redevelopment project.

Last month, a team from the federal Department of Transportation reviewed city records for the fourth time, Brea officials say, looking for alleged improprieties in the city’s right-of-way acquisitions for the Imperial Highway project.

Vega claims that the city wants to take his mother’s property so it can then turn it over to a developer.

Frustrated city officials blame Vega for the new inquiry. In a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and three other members of Congress, Brea Mayor Burnie Dunlap said that the Transportation Department “is allowing itself to be used to meet the personal needs and political goals of this disgruntled resident.”

Dunlap said Vega’s allegations were a rehash of old ones already resolved by previous investigations.

“This is an unbelievable waste of taxpayers’ money,” Dunlap wrote Feinstein.

“We think that Mr. Vega has a political and personal agenda,” City Manager Frank Benest said. “That’s what is driving this whole issue.”

“I’m not running the city, I have no control of their (city officials’) conduct,” Vega said. “What is being investigated is their conduct. How could I be responsible for that?”

Ralph Neal, deputy director of the state Department of Transportation’s right-of-way division, said the U.S. Department of Transportation team reviewed documents relating to land acquisition after Vega’s latest complaint about confidential city documents.

“They received a complaint, they acted on the complaint,” Neal said. He did not say what were the specific complaints, except that they were not “new.”

He said the $18-million project, which would add one lane in each direction of Imperial Highway between Berry Street and Randolph Avenue, has been investigated more thoroughly than any project he has been associated with.

“Because of the allegations that were made, there has been a more exhaustive review than we would normally make,” Neal said.

In 1991, state and federal agencies investigated complaints from property owners that the city took more land than was necessary for the right of way. In addition, residents and business owners displaced by the project charged that the city was not providing adequate relocation benefits.

The review by Caltrans and the federal Highway Administration found that in some of the 48 parcels taken by the city, more land was taken than was needed. Also, investigators found that in some instances, relocation benefits were not adequately provided.

So-called “remedial” actions were taken by the city and the federal Highway Administration approved the project in September, 1992. A letter from Eugene C. Burleson, chief of Caltrans’ right-of-way division, to Brea City Engineer Sam Peterson, in December, 1992, confirmed the approval to city officials. The state administers federal highway money.

Federal and state agencies are contributing $3.8 million to the project, which is expected to be completed in 1994. Once finished, the highway will be able to accommodate 70,000 cars a day, officials said.

In the Vega case, a Superior Court judge ruled in December, 1991, that the city can only take 14% of the 14,000-square-foot property. At the time that the city was trying to get the property, there was a three-bedroom house and a small commercial building on the land.

Part of the commercial building and the house are still standing. City officials said that three different families, totaling 15 people, lived at the house then. The city has since relocated the tenants at a cost of $100,000.

The city has attempted to take the entire holding because the remaining portion would not be economically usable under current zoning laws, Brea officials said. The question is how much the city should pay for the property.

At a Brea City Council meeting on Tuesday, Benest--publicly disclosing details of the transactions for the first time--said that the city has offered the Vegas $620,000 for the land, legal fees and relocation benefits.

Benest said the offer was based on a property appraisal of $381,000 by a member of the Appraisal Institute.

Vega’s mother, Marina, refused, Benest said. Instead, she made a counter offer of $600,000 for the land, $185,000 for attorneys’ fees, $60,840 for lost rent payments, and the right to participate in the development of the property.

Attorneys’ fees are no longer an issue. On April 1, Superior Court Judge Leonard Goldstein ruled that the city should pay more than $140,000 in legal fees and court costs to Palmieri, Tyler, Winer, Wilhelm & Wadron, who represent Vega’s mother. The city has since complied, officials said.

To resolve the remaining issues, the city has offered binding arbitration. Marina Vega refused it.

William Vega said they are refusing the offer of binding arbitration because the settlement agreement between the Brea Small Business Coalition and the city on issues related to the downtown project called for a voluntary arbitration.

The impasse has triggered more charges of bad faith from each side.

“We would be happy to have binding arbitration,” Mayor Dunlap said Friday. “What we’re saying is, ‘Let’s get this thing done, let’s move on.’ ”

Vega said his mother has submitted a proposal to the city to develop a low-cost housing project on the property. So far, he said, the city has not responded.

“We want to avail of the same opportunities that the city has offered to other developers,” Vega said. “My mother is 62. She is a Latina. She does not have political connections. Does that disqualify her?”