Angry Debate Over Home Is a Black and White Issue

Vasile Petean fled Romania 14 years ago to escape a Communist regime that crushed individual expression and civil liberties.

Since moving to the United States, Petean has enjoyed the freedom to express his views--like protesting a court order by painting a San Juan Capistrano house he’s building in zebra stripes.

The Orange County Superior Court order issued May 6 bars him from building a two-story home in the gated McCracken Hill neighborhood.

“It makes me think about what happened under communism,” he said about the order and the events that led up to it.

The black paint with the white stripes soon will be gone, he said, prompted by the threat of a public nuisance lawsuit by the city. But the legal wranglings that transformed one neighborhood’s conflict into an unusual public display will probably continue.

What angers Petean is that the city approved his plans for a two-story house, then notified his neighbors that they could block it under an old property restriction that, Petean said, wasn’t even recorded on his deed.

Ironically, he says, the property restriction imposed when the land was subdivided in 1959 limits construction to single-story houses--but doesn’t limit the height of any building.

“I want to build a house that’s compatible with the neighborhood,” Petean said.

What frustrates Petean is that he never knew about the developer’s rules until several neighbors--including City Councilwoman Collene Campbell--sued the longtime BMW mechanic in January 1998, for violating the two-story restriction.

In response to the suit, Petean altered his plan to indicate that he was building a single-story unit, but the design was the same and the house was just as tall. The city approved the amended plan, but did not send notices to neighbors again. Earlier this year, Petean started construction. However, Superior Court Commissioner Julee Robinson ruled early last week that Petean’s house was indeed a two-story home and ordered him to stop.

Two days later, Petean spent six hours painting the house black with zebra stripes. Neither he nor his attorney know when he will paint over it, but his lawyer said it would be “sooner rather than later.” The city gave him until Monday.