City Code Haunting Holiday Tradition

Over the last 11 years, Colleen Hanson and Dale Parker have poured their hearts and about $20,000 into their Halloween landscape. It’s a place where clock hands move backward, where a witch brews stew, where a ghoul gets flushed down the toilet and another pushes a “Booreka” vacuum.

It draws thousands of visitors each year to the corner lot at East Wilson Street and Westminster Avenue in Costa Mesa.

But this year may be the last for tricks or treats at the house because the city wants the couple to tear down the storage sheds that house their spooky props, saying they violate city code. Without the storage sheds, Hanson and Parker said, they can’t hold the annual event because they have nowhere to store the more than 70 life-size figurines and their accessories.

“We just want what we purchased,” Parker said, noting that the sheds were built more than 35 years ago. The couple moved into the 1,200-square-foot home six years ago. “This is something that everyone enjoys and we don’t see why we should have to put an end to it.”

The City Council’s focus on code violations has drawn attention to many homes like the Hanson-Parker residence, where such infractions were overlooked for years, said City Manager Allan Roeder.

“We do want to work with them. . . . They do a great job with the Halloween decorations. . . . We’re not against Halloween,” Roeder said.

Nonetheless, the city has ordered Hanson and Parker to tear down or at least move the sheds. Neither option is doable, they said.

Which is why this year, next to a row of ghouls, there is an informational table urging fans to help save the haunted lot. They expect a strong show of support at a City Council meeting Nov. 5.

“It would be a real shame if they had to get rid of it. It’s a real part of our neighborhood,” said Bianca Monarres, 23. She said her 12- and 14-year-old siblings are at the haunt every night.

Even neighbors without children enjoy the fun and don’t mind the traffic generated by the attraction.

“Every year we have dinner parties around Halloween and after dinner we walk over. It’s a tradition,” said Larry Tuohino, who has lived in the neighborhood for 16 years.

The city said it is trying to bring buildings throughout town into code compliance. This is the second year of the campaign, said Rick Brown, city building official. Last year, the city tackled nearly 4,000 violations of various city codes.

Hanson and Parker began their Halloween tradition in a nearby rented house; they said they bought this home because it was on a corner lot that would give them room for their props and storage space during the rest of the year.

The real estate agency listing the house touted the sheds as added storage space, Hanson said. One escrow document indicated that the sheds did not require permits because they were not fixed structures.

Not so, said Roeder. The city requires a structure taller than 6 1/2 feet to be 20 feet from the front property line and 10 feet from the side property line. The sheds are about one foot away from the side property line, everyone agrees.

If the property owners can show that the sheds were legally built 36 years ago, the structures could remain because they at one time met the city’s requirements, Brown said. The city is waiting for the homeowners to provide that proof, he said.

In the meantime, Parker sleeps in a tent to safeguard the ghouls and witches and spends the evening popping out of a coffin when the children come around. Hanson gives out pounds of candy.

The couple’s two children, as well as neighborhood children, come over every night, grab costumes and help entertain passers-by.

“It’s been something that helped us bring back the old idea of Halloween, when you didn’t have to worry what might happen to your kids,” Hanson said.