Planning Enforcement Probe Sought

Citing the Marshall Redman land fraud case, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Monday called for an investigation of why the Department of Regional Planning hasn’t moved more aggressively against illegal subdividers.

Following a Sunday Times article on the agency’s controversial enforcement record, Antonovich called on Planning Director Jim Hartl to report back within 30 days with details of a more “proactive” policy against such abuses.

“Since the citizens of this county are adversely affected by the lack of subdivision enforcement, these issues need to be reviewed and a pro-active policy developed,” according to a motion Antonovich planned to present today to the Board of Supervisors.

The supervisor’s motion called for the agency to consult, among others, retired employees and insiders from the legal and business community in its review.

Redman, a 67-year-old millionaire, was charged in May with a massive land fraud stemming from sales of undeveloped Antelope Valley properties his three companies made to low-income Latino buyers.

While officials say they monitored Redman, the Regional Planning Department has been criticized by its own employees and observers for its failure to do more to stop illegal land splits by Redman and others.

Planning officials have acknowledged they rarely pursued charges against developers but instead continue to collect fines of $669 or more from people who unknowingly purchase land that had been illegally broken into small parcels.

Hartl on Monday announced that his agency will review its track record and procedures against illegal development. Hartl said changes in state law would enable his office to do a better job of policing land development throughout the county.

As a result of the Redman case, regional planning is part of a task force devising new ways to detect and prevent illegal land divisions and real estate fraud.

“Out of this task force, I’m hoping that some legislative changes will come about,” Hartl said. “I’m all for that. With better laws, maybe we can do a better job.”

For example, the agency is required by state law to cite properties known to be illegally subdivided, making building permits impossible to obtain until they are cleared. But the statute of limitations is only one year, officials say, and they rarely catch developers within that period.

So officials cite the offending properties themselves, a move that most often results in the innocent buyer paying the fines.

“I think that extending the statute of limitations on these developers is a real good place to start,” Hartl said. “I mean, we’re interested in taking care of this whole thing, too.”

Hartl said he planned to ask the county for additional resources.

“With more money, I think we can definitely do a better job than we have been doing,” he said. “So that’s something I plan to explore.”