MOORPARK : Condemned Home Near City Hall Razed

The first of four condemned homes across the road from Moorpark City Hall was torn down Thursday as a previous owner undertakes the task of repairing the rundown property.

The home is one of 14 shanties cited for more than 200 building code violations--including leaky roofs, exposed wiring and cracked foundations.

Some of the homes have windows too small for even a child to crawl through, and in a fire would become death traps, said Assistant City Manager Richard Hare.

“These were not small violations,” Hare said. “I think most of the roofs were shot and leaked so bad that everybody had to use plastic on top of their homes to keep dry.”

The owners told city officials this fall that they could not afford to repair the buildings--home to more than 60 people--and have been taken to court for the violations.

The owners, James and Lynnette Scaroni of Somis, were still trying to pay for the property that they had purchased 11 years ago. But unable to even pay property taxes, the Scaronis recently returned ownership of the land to Charles Cho, whom they had purchased the property from.

Cho, a Seventh-day Adventist missionary in Russia, returned to Moorpark this summer to try and iron out the problem. In late November, he started to repair the homes that were salvageable.

“I believe in the American dream that everybody has the right to a decent place to live,” Cho said recently while repairing the roof of one of the homes.

Cho and his wife returned from Russia and are staying with relatives in Newbury Park, he said.

The pair had to cash their retirement fund to pay for some of the work, and Cho said he is low on funds. He said repairs could add up to more than $30,000, and that he had not received rent from several tenants or payment from the Scaronis for several months.

“I need a rehabilitation loan from the city,” Cho said.

Until that or some other financing comes through, Cho said his first priority would be to repair the 10 homes in which families still live, and then decide if more than one of the four condemned buildings will be torn down.

“Maybe we can save one of them,” he said. “I don’t know.”