Private Yards Flourish on Public Land

On city maps and deeds, the property line dividing Fairview Park from the houses on Swan Drive in Costa Mesa is clear, straight and nonnegotiable.

But you would never know that from walking through residents’ backyards. Tim and Mary Cromwell’s fence and those of their neighbors on either side, for example, extend their backyards 2 1/2 feet into the public park. And beyond the fence, the Cromwells have placed planters and a Tiki bar, which Mary Cromwell said is too ugly to allow in the backyard proper, but which is “perfect if we have a party and people want to hang out back there.”

Costa Mesa is not the only city where residents have colonized bits and pieces of public land. Encroachments occur in almost every city, officials say, and often, as in Huntington Beach, they turn a blind eye to the planters and picnic tables that appear on unused public land. Elsewhere, though, agencies fight a constant battle to keep homeowners off public property.

But nowhere is the land battle fiercer right now than behind the 30 homes on Swan Drive that abut Fairview Park. City staff members estimate that 20 of the homeowners have illegally extended their backyards--some by nearly 20 feet--into what is technically a city park. Flowers, sprinklers, patios, tables, tomato plants and even a futuristic garden full of silver spheres have sprouted.

Many encroaching gardens have been there for years, but have become controversial only in recent months after Sandy Genis, a former mayor of Costa Mesa, launched a campaign to get the city to force residents off the land.

“This is land that the taxpayers of Costa Mesa have paid for, and the taxpayers should be able to use it,” Genis said. “You don’t take what doesn’t belong to you. I don’t see it as a difficult moral conundrum.”

Residents say the land is not being used or maintained by the city.

“The people who are using it are using it as gardens,” said Mike Edles, who lives in a house along the park that stays within its legal boundaries. “They are adding value and adding to the park.”

Genis, who said she will sue the city if it doesn’t get homeowners off the land, scoffed at residents’ statements that the land otherwise is unusable.

“The land there is larger than many of the pocket parks that we have,” she said. “The only thing that stops it from being used is that any time anyone tries to use it, [homeowners] say it’s going to impede their privacy.”

The homeowners say the parkland they are using is an unusual case, a strip about 20 feet wide, separated from the rest of the park by a fenced-off flood-control channel. Although the grassy strip is accessible to the parkgoers, few use it.

Many residents say they would like to buy the land. Some, such as Tim and Mary Cromwell, said their fence was already extended when they bought their houses, and they thought they did own it.

But city officials probably won’t allow residents to buy the land, residents acknowledged, because it is designated public park space in a city that needs parks. The City Council is studying the issue and could draft an ordinance as soon as March.

“My task is to make sure the same opportunities are afforded to all citizens,” said Bill Morris, the city’s public services director. “The city codes are very specific; they say no encroachment without a permit.”

Policies vary in other areas.

Orange County strictly enforces its policy against encroachment, said Bob Hamilton, interim manager of the county’s Department of Beaches, Harbors and Parks.

In Dana Point, code enforcement officers about six times a year warn residents who have built walls, patios and other structures on the public beach, said Deanne Baptista in the city planning department.

In Yorba Linda, residents adjacent to a public horse trail have for years built fences and planted trees in the public right of way.

“I think, frankly, a lot of people don’t know where their property line is,” said Roy Stephenson, Yorba Linda’s public works director. He said encroachments are not seen as a big problem there. When they come across such cases, he said, city officials merely ask residents to apply for permits, so the city cannot be held liable if someone is injured on the land.

Some Huntington Beach residents have taken over alleys and flood channels in parts of the city, decorating them with flowers, trees, patios and picnic tables, said Mayor Pam Julien.

She said she sees these property extensions while driving around the city and isn’t bothered by them. If the city ever needed the land, she said, it would simply ask residents to vacate it.

“It’s human nature that people want to expand their horizons,” said Norma Glover, a Newport Beach city councilwoman. A few years ago, officials in her city realized they faced a big problem in west Newport, where residents had appropriated large segments of public beach for barbecues, decks and other backyard extensions.

“What you have to do is gradually pull people out of the public right of way and into their backyards,” Glover said.

But Newport found that in some cases, telling homeowners to stay off the beach was about as effective as trying to tell the waves to do the same.

The City Council decided to charge residents an annual encroachment fee of up to $600. The proceeds are used for beach and park improvements.

The mayor of Santa Monica said such occasional incursions without permits are not tolerated there. City workers immediately require homeowners to pull back onto their own land, Mayor Michael Feinstein said.

Many city officials point out that cities face serious liability issues if they allow residents to build onto public land. If someone were injured on the land, even if they had fenced it in themselves, they could sue the city.

But Costa Mesa’s Mary Cromwell said she and her husband bought their house because they wanted to be near the park. She said she would sell her home rather than move her fence. If the city took back those 2 1/2 feet, she and her husband would probably have to move their swimming pool.

“To us, it’s our yard,” she said. “It’s a useless piece of city property. I just don’t think we’re doing anything that affects anybody.”

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Manifest Destiny

A few homeowners on Swan Drive in Costa Mesa trespass on public land by inches, but others have extended their backyards many feet into public property. Some residents say their yard extensions simply improve land unused by the city.

Source: City of Costa Mesa

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times