Teeming expansion

Dave Brooks

When Art Hasegawa looks out into his backyard, he is greeted by the

faint blue glow of a triangular spa and a hint of wind whistling

through hibiscus shrubs and blooming plumeria.

When his neighbor, Randy Fuhrman, looks out his front door, he

sees an imposing, 11-foot, concrete-brick wall built into the

hillside to accommodate the expansion of Hasegawa’s backyard.

If Fuhrman has his way, backyard expansions like this one in

Huntington Harbour would be outlawed, and residents living on

hillside in double-fronted homes -- large parcels with front and

backyards bordered by parallel streets -- would have a difficult time

expanding in the future.

Many hillside residents have been expanding their homes to the

slopes behind their homes that fall within their property boundaries.

Residents like Fuhrman, who lives behind the hillside homes, said the

slopes were never intended to be developed and building on them is

changing the character of the neighborhood.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday tossed out a proposal Fuhrman

presented that sought to ban any further expansions of hillside,

double-fronted homes and ordered a July 27 study session to help

craft a compromise. The City Council will take up the issue in

August.

Another Huntington Harbour homeowner, Carole Garrett, insists

something is needed to stop what she refers to as the

“over-mansionization” of Southern California.

“The philosophy around here is ‘bigger is better,’” she said.

“These homeowners are trying to increase the value for their

individual properties, but are causing the devaluation of the rest of

the neighborhood.”

Green slopes covered in ice plants ran the entire length of

Roundhill Lane when Garrett and Fuhrman purchased their homes in the

early 1970s. A homeowners association agreement protected the slopes

from development, but hillside homeowners like Hasegawa said the

foliage was becoming overgrown and unmanageable.

“I think the walls look better,” he said, describing how the old

vegetation was warping his fence. Now, Hasegawa’s wall became the

standard for other backyard expansions on the block.

The hillside facing Fuhrman’s and Garrett’s homes is now gone,

save for a few random patches unevenly spaced between ivy-covered

patios and concrete-clad pool decks. The Planning Department won’t

enforce the homeowners association rules, and Fuhrman says the city

needs an ordinance to stop further construction.

“We need specific development standards to protect this easement,”

he said.

So far, getting the Planning Department to take on the issue has

been difficult. City planner Paul Da Veiga is recommending the City

Council avoid changing the zoning rules for hillside lots as Fuhrman

proposed.

“Zoning is not the right mechanism to apply to this problem,” he

said. “We’re creating standards for about 75 lots that are not

required of the remaining homes [in Huntington Beach.]”

In 2001, the City Council ordered the Planning Department to draft

an ordinance banning hillside expansions on double-fronted lots,

following an emotional battle between Garrett and a neighbor over a

proposed concrete wall facing Garrett’s house. Da Veiga instead

suggested requiring slopes in future developments to belong to the

homeowners association.

“Right now, the slope is part of the homeowner’s property, and

they feel like they have a right to use it,” De Veiga said.

Darrach Taylor, who owns a large house at the top of a slope on

Gilbert Island in Huntington Harbour, feels he should be able to use

the slope he owns as he sees fit. Taylor has already expanded his

backyard halfway into the hill to install a narrow lap pool and hot

tub. He argues that an expansion ban would unfairly devalue property.

“It’s wrong to paint all of us with the same brush,” he said.

Unlike the homes on Roundhill Lane, Taylor made several attempts

to minimize construction impacts, including building his deck only

part way into the hill and planting several Pigmy and California palm

trees near the sidewalk to hide the concrete wall.

Those steps are fine, Garrett said, but others living on Gilbert

Island might not be so accommodating. “This is the nightmare that

will go there if we don’t do something to stop this,” Garrett said,

pointing at a rust-stained expansion wall dominating the view of her

living room.

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.