Board Recommends Right-to-a-View Rule

After hours of debate into the night, the Planning Commission voted 3 to 2 Wednesday to recommend a controversial proposal that would make the city the first in Orange County to guarantee a homeowner’s right to a view.

The five-member panel heard 24 residents voice opinions on the View and Sunlight Access Preservation Ordinance before voting to send the proposal to the City Council, which will likely take up the issue on May 13.

“There’s no easy answer to this problem,” commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Pearson said Thursday.

During public comment, view proponents and environmentalists lobbied the commission, some seeking a stronger view ordinance and others asking for more protection for trees and other vegetation. The two groups agreed, however, that the ordinance be specific and strict.

“Get a good ordinance, get a strong ordinance,” said Madeleine Visca, a 60-year resident of the city and a view preservationist. “We don’t want to fight with our neighbors.”

The ordinance would recognize a resident’s “right to preserve a reasonable amount of the view and/or sunlight” that existed when that individual bought the property or as of the day the law took effect, whichever came later.

That right would not be established, however, unless the resident seeking to protect his or her view followed the steps outlined in the ordinance, which include using a mediator who would work with a city landscape consultant to resolve any view dispute. Wednesday’s meeting was the fifth public hearing on the topic since November.