Resident trying to save his bedroom

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- With a $200 fine looming, Westside resident Dave Morley

is fighting against the city’s code enforcement.

Morley filed an appeal in Harbor Municipal Court last week on a code

violation for allegedly living in his garage.

“I wanted to get it resolved before it got to this level, but I have

to protect my own interests too,” he said.

Code enforcement officials contend Morley, who lives in the 2000 block

of Maple Avenue, is violating a city code because his garage was

converted into a bedroom.

The citation said he must conform to the regulation by turning what is

now his bedroom back into a garage or apply for the proper permit to turn

the garage into a living space and then build a garage somewhere else on

his property.

The handyman said the garage has been a bedroom for the last 50 years.

That is the way his parents bought the house, and that is how his family

has continued to use the space. If his bedroom were converted back to a

garage, there would not be enough space in the modest two-bedroom house

-- not counting the garage -- for he, his wife and her two sons, he said.

And Morley doesn’t want to tear out the landscaping in his yard or

demolish his workshop to make space for a garage, he said.

“This house has always been like this. I shouldn’t be responsible for

what was done more than 20 years ago,” he said.

Councilman Gary Monahan agreed.

Monahan said he is trying to propose a process for residents like

Morley who have found themselves the victims of the new proactive codes.

The councilman said he would like to set up a review board where certain

cases could be heard and a resolution could be met without having to go

to court.

New property maintenance codes went into effect in August 2000. Costa

Mesa code enforcement officers have been walking the streets and

targeting the worst offenders since December.

The property codes prohibit peeling paint, dry rot, broken windows,

torn screens or deteriorating walls. The codes also require that

sidewalks or parkways be free of deteriorating fences or signs, dead or

dying plants and litter or weeds.

In addition, residents cannot live in a recreational vehicle or

garage.

Seven officers were assigned to residential code violations with three

handling businesses, city officials said in June. The first round of

enforcement ended last month.

“We’re just getting the worst cases, the most obvious ones this first

time out,” Code Enforcement Chief Sandi Benson said in June. “Then, we

will go back and do the rest.”

City officials could not be reached for comment about Morley’s

property.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .

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