While enforcing its draconian septic ordinance with ‘Gestapo-like' techniques, City of Calabasas officials raided an historic ranch on Stokes Canyon, searched locked rooms and ordered the electricity and water shut off.
Lloyd Smith has lived most of his life on a lush, 60-acre ranch in the bucolic, uppermost reaches of Stokes Canyon in Calabasas more than two miles north of Mulholland, land his family homesteaded in 1910 and dubbed "R-Own Ranch" in the days before addresses.
PHOTOS BY ANTHONY VEREBES  Karen Miller wonders what to do with all the stuff her tenant, Jeff Stump, stored in the quonset hut that her family had lived in since the 1950s. The City of Calabasas ordered the power and water cut off to the dwelling because they said it is substandard housing and in violation of the city's current building and safety codes. |
His uncle, ‘Smitty' Smith delivered mail for decades throughout the rural community and was a founder of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District. In fact, he was the one who brought the water into the canyon via a 10-inch line that runs through the ranch from Cold Creek to the east.
Four generations of the Smith family have lived and raised their children in the sturdy ranch house built in 1927–and even installed a Navy surplus Quonset Hut in 1956.
Karen Miller and her brother, Edgar Smith, inherited the property in the 1960s from their father, Smitty Smith, and since then, members of the Smith family have lived and raised their children on the ranch until the 1996 Calabasas fire burned down the family house and outbuildings.
But the Quonset hut remained and Lloyd Smith, who is 72 and diabetic, and his son, Gary, 40, have lived quietly on the property for decades with the blessing of his niece and nephew.
 After Sparky Cohen from the City of Calabasas ordered an unnannounced raid on the Smith family ranch at Stokes Canyon as part of an inspection permit for the septic ordinance, they declared Lloyd Smith's trailer to be substandard housing, thus forcing Smith, who is 70 and diabetic, to live outside under a tree with his son, Gary, and their three dogs. |
So imagine Lloyd's terror and surprise one morning after he saw an army of Calabasas inspectors descending upon his property on July 8 with orders to search inside and out under the pretense of an "immediate threat to public health and safety."
Armed with a criminal inspection warrant signed by Judge Lawrence J. Mira of the Los Angeles Superior Court, the group was rounded up by the Calabasas Community Development Department and headed by Building Official Sparky Cohen.
Presumably under the guise of enforcing the City's Septic Ordinance, the unannounced inspection included 14 people including an assistant DA, a locksmith, two Sheriff's deputies, animal control officers, a plumber and eight others who remain unidentified, who swarmed the property taking videos, sampling water, measuring buildings and taking photos of the property.
"I asked if the search was legal and a man in a rumpled blue suit said, ‘Yes we have a warrant,' but it was not served nor did he leave a copy,'" Smith said after the first raid.
According to the City, the search was based on affidavit authorizing an inspection of the property for purported violations apparently discovered using satellite photos from the City's GIS system software and Microsoft's Bing Search Engine taken on April 29 of "land for sale," according to the affidavit signed by Maureen Tamuri, AIA, AICP Community Development Director, City of Calabasas, authorizing the surprise inspection.
In its Notice, the City identified several violations, including Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (OWTS), structural, gas and electrical installations that have not been approved by the City's Building and Safety Division.
Although the inspection warrants appear to have been initiated by Tamuri, it was Sparky Cohen, the City's Building Official, who applied for the warrant to raid the Smiths' property.
Tamuri clearly signed the affidavit yet repeated inquiries went unanswered as to why the City felt it had to conduct a surprise inspection or turn the water and power off without warning.
"Our policy is to not comment on any such matters," Tamuri said via e-mail. "So, our apologies that we cannot offer you any responses to your questions. The City has no comments on this or any other code enforcement case."
A spokesman for the City of Calabasas also confirmed that due to the city's no comment policy, Sparky Cohen is also unable to comment on any part of the active code enforcement case.
"I can understand if it was absolutely necessary, but in this case it was not, it seems like Gestapo techniques to me," said Daniel Miller, Karen's husband and co-owner of the property. "It is not a nice situation. We have been paying taxes on that property since the 1960s and lived there with our children for 16 years."
"Let's just say the condition of the raid is being investigated; these take a little more time," said Anthony J. Rista, an attorney who is working with the Millers to resolve the case.
What the Inspection Warrant Said
Citing several "possible" Municipal Code violations in addition to and "possibly" maintaining an unlawful OWTS, the warrant authorized the City:
• "To make an interior and exterior inspection of all structures, recreational vehicles, trailers and adjoining open space areas. Take measurements, photographs, videotape, and samples of any substance or fluid and have them analyzed.
• "To allow Sheriff's Deputies to assist in the execution to ensure there is no interference and permit the City Prosecutor's Office to attend.
• "In order to avoid possible destruction, removal or concealment of evidence of code violations, execution of this warrant may occur without prior notice of its issuance to the owners and without prior notice to any occupants.
• "Execution may also occur if the owners and occupants are not present when the City executes the warrant.
• "The city is authorized to forcibly enter any locked structure, trailer and/or recreational vehicle by any means necessary… Animal control officers can participate in the inspection to ensure dogs or other animals do not pose a hazard to inspecting officials."
Family members immediately assumed the City was searching for illicit drugs but not finding any, had to back off and justify the raid as an "immediate threat to the public health and safety."
Draconian Measures
Under this type of code enforcement, harsh by any standards, the family's stress levels maxed out. Working six days a week as the on-contract postmistress for the Naval Base at Port Hueneme, Miller worked Sundays to help clean up the property.
"I don't know where the trouble came from," Miller said. "The city claims it is from the septics and basically they want everything removed and put back to nature…. They want it destroyed and torn down if Lloyd leaves, but it has been his home for 50 years so we are to see what would be acceptable to have him stay in the Quonset hut."
Miller said that in three raids made by Cohen and the gang, on July 8, 10 and 15, she is still unclear what they want him to do to mitigate the issues regarding letting her uncle live on the property.
She already had asked her tenant, Jeff Stump, to vacate the premises. But, Stump, a junk collector who receives disability, said he needed time to move or sell the thousands of items he had stored in the Quonset hut. Additionally, Miller's younger brother, Clark, who works for the USPS in Thousand Oaks, agreed to move his 176-foot self-contained trailer off the property.
Because the inspection forced Smith out of his trailer and to have it destroyed, he had no choice but to move outside underneath a tree. So, on August 1, weakened by the heat, extreme stress and anxiety, Lloyd Smith was rushed to the hospital with symptoms of dehydration and stroke and an aggravated diabetic condition.
As of press time, he remains under medical care, with no home to come back to.
Miller, who inherited the property as a young woman, was frustrated at the lack of communication with Cohen after being served with multiple notices to comply.
"They lied for the first notice," Miller said. "They [supposedly] were going to show me what we had to take care of, but instead only handed me something that said the power was going to be turned off; that is not what we were there for, we were supposed to be there to ameliorate the problems before they turned off the power," Miller said. "I had to take a day off work for them to lie to get me up there. They could have mailed me the thing, but it was all so they could serve me in person and show me some of the things that they found and other issues."
Despite Miller's attempts at mitigation and efforts to contact Cohen, on August 3, the Calabasas Building and Safety Department issued a "Declaration of Substandard Property," essentially condemning the property and leaving the owners few options for where Lloyd and Gary can live.
After condemning the property, efforts by the family to contact the city revealed little about what they could do while Cohen was out of town during the first week of August.
"The City has great compassion for the difficult circumstances in this case," the city said in a statement. "However, there is a municipal duty to protect public health and safety and to prevent violations of environmental laws."
Lloyd Smith is not entirely convinced. He feels the raid and condemnation notices were designed to remove him and his son from the property and force his niece, Karen Miller, to sign a complex and restrictive 12-page document stipulating in narrow terms just how the property can be used and who can live there. The document also ordered that the septics be pumped once a week and the property be subject to daily inspections by the City.
Due to pressure from family and friends, Miller did not sign it and she and her attorney are currently seeking mitigation in the matter.
"The City will continue working to accomplish those responsibilities with compassion and cooperation for the property owner and downstream neighbors affected by the substandard conditions on the property," the city's statement further declared. "The City has no further public comment on the case beyond what is in the court file so as not to invade the property owner's privacy by commenting in detail on this unfortunate and dangerous situation."
Jim Moorhead is another close family friend who has been trying everything to help the situation that seemed to be spiraling out of control while the City refused to respond.
"Sparky Cohen, is a maggot ‘Yes' man," said Moorhead, who attended the City Council meeting on August 11. "What happened was the attorney for the Smiths, Anthony J. Rista, put a card in front of the City Council and told them that almost every violation has been taken care of, yet the city attorney will not return his calls or letters; they want to remain anonymous and have nothing to do with us."
Water and Power
Perhaps the most egregious turn of events during the raids was that the Community Development Department and Building Official sought warrants authorizing cutting off water and power to the property.
 When the City dug up the Smith's 750-gallon septic tank for inspection that the City of Calabasas has deemed out of compliance with its harsh, new Septic Ordinance, they broke the top and now must fix it before it can be operational again. Based on an arieal photo of the property, the City of Calabasas declared the septic to be an immediate threat to health and safety and ordered the water and power shut off on the property. |
Carlos Reyes, director of resource conservation and public outreach of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, acknowledged that district workers shut off the Smiths' water, but said they did so based on the city's allegations and the inspection warrant signed by Judge Mira.
"We acted on the strength of the City of Calabasas, accompanied by the authority from Judge Mira, to abate the hazard. The city of Calabasas convinced the judge that there was existing hazard at the property to shut off the service," Reyes said. "We can't remember any request we have had in the past, but if the hazard is abated, we have no problem resuming service to the property, but only on the orders of the city."
Reyes also acknowledged that the water district was well aware of the Smith family ranch and its history, but had done no on-site investigation and had no proof of the pollution [by OWTS] beyond pictures provided by the city.
Tamuri also ordered that they lock the fire hydrant on the five-acre parcel, part of the 60-acre ranch that the Smiths have owned since 1945.
Reyes commented on the wisdom of shutting off the hydrant: "One of the things we recognize is to protect public safety," Reyes said. "The district locked it [the fire hydrant] out but made sure the fire department knew. I know that the city did the inspection on the property. Unfortunately, the city has primary responsibility for enforcement, and this would be a different matter if the district did not see a warrant from the city and we had acted on that."
Again, according to the July 15 Return on Warrant, the Community Development Department "will immediately ask Southern Edison to terminate all electrical service on or after July 19, 2010."
"I was contacted back in July originally, by Sparky Cohen," Rudy Gonzales, regional manager at the Southern California Edison Service Center in Thousand Oaks. "He informed me of the situation and I let him know that we couldn't do so based solely on an oral request." Sparky then forwarded to him Judge Mira's signed authorization.
Gonzales said Cohen reported seeing "only one source of electricity, with multiples of extension cords running throughout the encampment constituting an unsafe condition.
"From what I gather, they were out for one night after they corrected the infractions, so our records show the power was out for only one day and we reconnected it the day after or shortly thereafter," Gonzales said. "But we can't just go out and shut off the power at someone's request; there always needs to be proper authorization and we need to receive documentation."
Strong-Arm Methods
Lloyd Smith insists that the strong-armed raid by the City was an attempt to force them off the land and get the land for pennies on the dollar as part of their ongoing effort to annex properties in Stokes Canyon to the City of Calabasas.
"Flat out illegal, it's unconstitutional what they were doing and they have my niece terrified," he said. "They proceeded as if it were a criminal raid. If this is not harassment, what is?"
What Miller did reveal, however, was that a few weeks prior to the raid, she had received a mysterious letter advising her to sell the 60 acres "before any trouble starts."
Now, in spite of the fact that she owns the property and the taxes and utilities have all been paid, Miller said she has to negotiate with the City to allow her uncle, his son Gary and their three dogs, Alpha Fido, Beta Fido and Little Girl to stay on the property in the Quonset hut.
Ironically, the Quonset hut–installed on the Smith property in 1956– predates Calabasas cityhood by 35 years and could potentially be considered for a historical designation in Calabasas under the city's Historical Preservation Ordinance.
"Code enforcement or land grab, the best way to make it a non-issue is to get the parties together and seek a timetable for elimination of issues that are actually non-issues, and compliance with issues that can't be handled otherwise," Rista said.
Sad Family Legacy
To the older generation, who have lived on the land for generations, it feels like a different community than the friendly Calabasas they knew and loved.
"I know this is killing my brother," said Patricia Rogers, 86, who lived in the Quonset hut as her artist's hideaway until just a few years ago. Due to stress and anxiety brought on by the raid and a recent visit to the property, Rogers fell and broke her hip but is in recovery. "[Lloyd] doesn't deserve to be treated like this," she said. "It makes me mad."
Meanwhile, clearly overwhelmed, Miller is trying her best to comply with the city's requests with the help of her attorney.
"What I want is that Lloyd be permitted to stay there and bring the Quonset hut up to code and accepted as a permanent residence - a certified, permanent building and not just a temporary fix - and include having Gary live with him," she said. "They said they are willing to allow an adult to live with him to help out."
Nevertheless, in spite of the less than two-week window given to bring a 100-year old property up to current City code, Miller promised to allow her uncle to live on the property with her blessing.
"We feel violated," Miller said, clearly exhausted. "We feel like we are forced to work with them temporarily to see if we can get this taken care of, but we are not going to cave in."
Resources:
Declaration of Substandard Property - PDF
