Homeowner hopes new plans end remodeling controversy

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- After more than 1 1/2 years of debates and a costly

lawsuit, Mesa Verde resident Tracy Stevenson hopes to have new building

permits for the renovations to her home within a week.

“Plans are in the city’s buildings division [of development services]

and ready for issuance of new building permits any day now,” said Don

Lamm, deputy city manager and director of development services. “Once

those are issued, the case is closed as far as the city is concerned.”

Neighbors who threw a wrench in Stevenson’s original plans in May

1999, however, are also studying the new plans, and they are not entirely

happy with them.

“We’re still looking at” the plans, said Robin Leffler, the Mesa Verde

homeowner who led the coalition of neighbors who opposed Stevenson’s

remodeling. “We have an architect and a lawyer looking at them too.

There’s nobody around here that likes that house.”

In 1998, Stevenson began adding a second story and an attic to her

home on Samoa Place.

Construction was halted when neighboring residents complained to the

city that the additions violated zoning codes.

Although Stevenson had building permits, city officials stopped

construction, saying the attic was a third story and not allowed.

Stevenson filed a lawsuit against the city in January 2000, alleging

the council’s decision was unfair because city planners, after reviewing

her blueprints, granted her building permits for the renovations with the

understanding that it was an attic.

The lawsuit ended in June, when the city agreed to pay Stevenson

$260,000 to taper the roof on the home, lowering the height of the attic

from 30 feet to 27 1/2 feet, she said.

“Nothing will ever make up for the anguish it’s cost us,” she said. “I

won’t know until its done if the $260,000 [will cover expenses of

revamping plans]. It’s cost me almost $40,000 in attorney fees, and I’ve

been renting a place in addition to two mortgages.”

Stevenson was also required to move a portion at the front of her

house back to adhere to setback regulations, according to the settlement.

Stevenson maintains even now that the attic she was building

originally conformed to city codes.

She sees the city’s willingness to settle and quick agreement to pay

the large sum as an unspoken admission of wrongful action, she said.

As building resumes, both neighbors and city officials said they will

keep an eye on things.