Mandeville Canyon Homeowner, Developer in Land Battle : Property: The dispute involving a 200-square-foot swath includes allegations of vandalism, a videotape and the construction of a chain-link fence.

By the time Brian Ross discovered what was happening to the front of his family’s Mandeville Canyon home, all that was left for him to do was survey the aftermath.

As workers hastily left the scene, a horrified Ross looked over fallen trees, ripped-out gardens and a front gate torn from its moorings.

An attorney lingered behind to explain that the work stemmed from a property dispute between Ross’ parents and the builder of the housing development next door. “It was a blitzkrieg,” said an angry Ross. “It was all trespassing and vandalism.”

On the surface it may seem a simple boundary dispute, albeit one mixing such elements as a snatched videotape and a congressman’s daughter. But cut deeper and the tiff between Ross and developer Barry Hilton has much to do with the frazzled nerves of residents still wary of any construction in the wake of 98-acre Brentwood Country Estates, the bucolic community’s first development in 10 years. (Roads were paved and sidewalks laid, but not a single house has gone up yet because of the slow market).

Ross accuses Hilton of invading his family’s turf.

According to Ross, Hilton had ceded a 200-square-foot swath of land between Ross’ parents’ home and the Brentwood Country Estates to make up for the entrance to the development blocking their driveway. The family built another entrance to the driveway and a $60,000 stone and stucco wall separating the two properties was then erected, Ross said. The cost was split between Hilton and Ross’ parents.

But since then, said Ross, his parents and Hilton have been involved in litigation regarding a boundary on another portion of the property. It was in response to this, he said, that Hilton decided to bring a work crew onto the property to re-establish the original property line and install a chain-link fence demarcating the boundary.

A videotape of the installation of the fence was made by a member of the crew but was snatched away at the scene by Ross’ wife, who is the daughter of Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Berkeley). The videotape shows workers tearing up shrubbery and trees and yanking down a front gate. Ross’ parents are seeking an injunction prohibiting Hilton, or any of his employees, from venturing within 100 yards of their property.

Hilton’s lawyers, however, tell a different story. They say the property’s boundary has never been an issue. And they dispute Ross’ assertions that there was ever an agreement to transfer the 200-square-foot patch of land.

“(The property line) never moved,” said attorney Barry MacNaughton, who represents Hilton. “It’s always been where it’s been since 1982.”

Though MacNaughton declined further comment until the matter is litigated, he acknowledged that the Rosses and Hilton unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a settlement to their boundary dispute but that “the parties were never able to reach a deal.”

Regardless of their differing interpretations of the property line, Ross says he remains incensed over what he believes was an act of destruction committed for little apparent purpose.

“He (Hilton) was trying to give us a lesson,” he said.