City Seeks Charges Against Homeowner

Expressing frustration with the city attorney’s office, City Council members this week directed prosecutors to bring criminal charges quickly against a Huntington Harbour homeowner for numerous code violations.

“It’s appalling. The lack of city effort to take action on this matter is unacceptable,” Councilman Tom Harman said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Neighbors say officials have failed to force Elena Zagustin to comply with building and health codes despite 15 years of complaints and a 366-page city inspection file on the Zagustin property.

The neighbors are in a long-running legal battle with Zagustin. They have filed a series of lawsuits in Small Claims Court alleging that the property is so poorly kept that the situation is causing them emotional distress.

Those claims of $5,000 each resulted in a total of $146,500 in judgments against Zagustin in November. Ultimately, neighbors say, they hope to obtain judgments that will total more than Zagustin can pay, thus forcing a sale of the property.

Zagustin, a civil engineering professor at Cal State Long Beach, has denied that the property is poorly kept.

This week, neighbors complained to Councilman Ralph Bauer that the city attorney obtained a court order denying them access to evidence from a November inspection of the home. During that inspection, city workers boarded up the house, and officials declared that the property was a fire hazard.

“This issue is making the city the laughingstock of the country,” Bauer said at Monday night’s council meeting. “My concern is that there is a lack of cooperation from the city attorney. The city attorney is fighting the residents.”

City Atty. Gail Hutton said that releasing the evidence to be used in the civil actions against Zagustin would jeopardize the city’s criminal case against the Huntington Harbour woman.

“I need my evidence available to me, not spread out in a civil action,” Hutton said. “When the criminal prosecution is over, the residents can have the evidence.”

Hutton said that successful prosecution of Zagustin, 61, will require due process and that gathering the necessary evidence will take time. An inspection of the Zagustin home set for Sunday will provide the last piece of information she needs, she said.

“The Fire Department will inspect the property, and criminal action will be taken,” Hutton said.

The council also directed the city attorney’s office to draft an ordinance that would give the city more power to deal with nuisances.

The council had requested such an ordinance in a November meeting. Hutton said Monday that she took no action then because she was unclear about what the council wanted.

Officials said they hope to pattern the new law after a stricter Long Beach ordinance that provides for stringent enforcement. A public hearing on the new Huntington Beach law is set for February.

Monday’s developments did little to encourage Zagustin’s neighbors that the issue would come to an end any time soon.

“I have no faith in Huntington Beach. They are not going to fix it,” said David Flynn, who lives across Morse Circle from Zagustin and has spearheaded the neighborhood effort. “We think we will have the place torn down by summer.

“This is not over,” Flynn said, “because we are not going to let it be over.”