Permit Battle With City Hall Takes a Twist

It began as a project not to build the Taj Mahal but to connect the house to their detached garage. Sounded pretty simple, so shortly after Janet and Michael Gagnon moved into their Brea home 14 months ago, they sketched out a 21-by-21-foot structure that would serve, in essence, as a second garage.

Since the house would provide one wall and the existing garage another, Janet Gagnon says they saw the new structure basically as “two walls and a roof.”

Knowing they’d need a city building permit, Janet Gagnon researched the process and figured it to be a piece of cake: inform the city of the plans and give it $200 as a deposit for securing the permit.

That was last July.

Now nearly seven months later, the Gagnons’ “little tiny building project” has them so angry they could pound nails with their bare hands. They’re credited with having put $781 into the city’s account and have been under the impression they owe another $536.

That would put the fees over the $1,300 mark, not much less than the $2,000 estimate for building the addition, should it ever be approved.

That’s where this story takes a twist in a rather peculiar direction.

A Brea city official says the Gagnons are mistaken. Their account is basically paid up, he says, and their permit is ready.

Assistant City Manager Tim O’Donnell told me late Tuesday afternoon the Gagnons owe, at most, another $150 or so for the final permit stage.

That came as a complete shock to Janet Gagnon, who has kept up an ongoing letter-writing and personal-appearance campaign in front of city officials over the $1,300 figure. When I informed her late Tuesday that O’Donnell says her account is square, she was flabbergasted and highly suspicious.

I don’t know the people involved here, but something confounds me: How could a couple, especially one that has repeatedly challenged city officials over the cost of permits, possibly be confused into thinking they owed an additional $500 plus?

Gagnon has no answer. She insists that in every conversation with city officials, including a letter she showed me dated Dec. 22, she specifically cited the $1,300 figure and asked for an accounting of how that much money could be spent on a permit for a garage.

I asked O’Donnell how the Gagnons could be so confused to think they owed that much money when they didn’t. He replied that Janet Gagnon had been kept fully informed as to the account.

When I passed that on to her, she replied, “He’s lying.”

Until I made inquiries about their case, the Gagnons thought they were being taken to the cleaners for exorbitant permit fees.

Now they’re not sure what to think.

O’Donnell said Tuesday the total fees for the Gagnons came to right around $800. The figure climbed that high, he says, only because the Gagnons needed a variance for their project. Extra staff time increases the cost, he says.

He says the city diligently tracks the hours it spends on the permit process and that nothing is billed that isn’t verified.

That’s the thrust of her persistent complaints: that the city hasn’t convinced her why so much time has been needed.

Gagnon, a secretary to a senior vice president for advertising for a building supply company, says there is “no way” she’s misconstrued the money issue. “We’ve all been talking about exactly the same figure,” she says. “That I owe $536, which would bring the account to $1,318.25.”

That’s as far as I can take this right now.

But I’m still grappling with how a family could think they owed that much money, continually complain to city officials about it, and never be told until I phoned the city that it was all a misunderstanding.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821, by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.