Home Boarded Up in Wake of Findings
Fire and code enforcement officials Thursday searched the Huntington Harbour home of Elena Zagustin and boarded it up after finding sufficient evidence to declare hazardous conditions.
“They posted an order for her not to return,” Huntington Beach City Atty. Gail Hutton said.
Hutton declined to detail the violations. Zagustin, a Cal State Long Beach professor who has long run afoul of the city and her neighbors over the condition of her Morse Circle home, was not home during the search.
Neighbors of the 61-year-old woman are preparing for a small-claims hearing Monday, the latest in a long-running legal battle. Neighbors have claimed the home’s deplorable conditions have caused them emotional distress.
City officials said Zagustin’s failure to comply with building and health codes despite repeated warnings in the last 14 years warranted the search.
The City Council this week approved efforts to secure the search warrant and said it will consider ways to strengthen local nuisance ordinances.
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