Apartments or Motel? It’s a Fight Over a Definition

The owner of lodging on Lincoln Avenue in Cypress said Friday that he will file for a special-use permit that would allow him to continue renting his rooms as apartments.

Ernest Schworck, of Quail Valley, has been renting the property as apartments since he bought it in 1963.

On Nov. 8 the City Council agreed with a ruling by the Nonconforming Use and Hearing Board in July that Schworck was in violation of a city ordinance governing motels.

Schworck insisted the building was an apartment complex, not a motel, and therefore not in violation of the ordinance.

Schworck’s attorney, Richard Beck, said that the board’s ruling was based on misclassification of the property as a motel. He said the units in the building have all the amenities of apartments and have been used as apartments for years.

According to a housing official, the property has been classified by the city as a motel since 1956.

Schworck said he was shocked by the City Council’s decision. “I was under the impression that if I went ahead and made all the repairs that they had asked me to make, it would take care of the ordinance problem,” said Schworck. He said he has spent a lot money bringing the building up to city standards.

City Planning Director Alice Angus said the repairs Schworck made were to address basic health and fire safety requirements for the building, not to aid in reclassifying it as an apartment complex.

For Schworck to have the building classified as an apartment, Angus said he would need a special-use permit that would comply with the city’s building and zoning standards. “Right now the property is still considered a motel,” said Angus.

Andre Briscoe can be reached at (714) 966-5848