Homeowner Faces Jail in Yard Dispute

A member of an east county parks and recreation district faces up to six months in jail when he is sentenced Monday for failing to properly maintain the front lawn of his Thousand Oaks home.

Marc Jacobsen was originally cited for the problem in 1996 and placed on three years’ probation. In a court hearing Tuesday, a judge found that he violated probation because the problem still exists.

Jacobsen, a business owner and a member of the Conejo Recreation and Park District board of directors, lives in Upland with his wife but owns a home in the 1200 block of Sheffield Place in Thousand Oaks.

A Thousand Oaks city attorney said in court that he may argue for jail time, but Jacobsen’s attorney, Dennis Kucera, said his client was the subject of selective enforcement and should be given more time to do the job.

“I’d like to have the court cut him a little slack,” Kucera said.

Kucera said the landscaping remains undone because the house has a crack in its foundation that needs repair first and to do that job, heavy equipment must be placed on the front lawn.

Jacobsen has failed to obtain refinancing needed to pay for repairs because of the crack.

In court, Kucera argued that Jacobsen’s property didn’t violate a city ordinance requiring harmony among landscapes because a house across the street from Jacobsen’s is equally unkempt.

The home adjacent to Jacobsen’s is also the subject of a code violation.

Jacobsen has not attended many of the hearings held in his case over the last two years, but Superior Court Judge James P. Cloninger has ordered him to be present at sentencing.