Legal battle weighs on Westside resident

Lolita Harper

WESTSIDE -- Dave Morley, a modest handyman who works out of his Costa

Mesa home, said he is overwhelmed by a court battle he waged with the

city over a code enforcement citation, but herefuses to back down.

Morley filed an appeal on a code violation in Harbor Municipal Court

in September. Code enforcement officials contend Morley, who lives in the

2000 block of Maple Avenue, illegally converted his garage into a

bedroom.

Six months later, Morley has grown frustrated with the constant delays

and high price of the legal system. Initially concerned with the high

cost of conforming to the city’s request to turn his bedroom back into a

garage, Morley said he has paid about $4,000 in legal fees.

“They are doing nothing but playing ping pong and I’m paying the

bill,” Morley said. “The taxpayers are paying the bill for this city, so

really, I’m paying for it both ways.”

Edwin Richards, outside counsel for the city, said he could not

comment on an ongoing case.

Morley’s lawyer, Jennifer Friend, said the situation is not as grave

as her client may think. She understands Morley’s frustration about his

house being singled out by the city but said a solution is in the works.

“We’re exploring an amicable resolution to the problem that would

allow Mr. Morley to continue to use his property in the manner it has

been used for the past 50 years,” Friend said.

The citation, given in last March, 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.

Morley has said the garage was used as a bedroom even before his

parents bought the house 38 years ago, and that is how his family has

continued to use the space.

If his bedroom were converted back to a garage, Morley said there

would not be enough space in the modest two-bedroom house -- not counting

the garage -- for he, his wife and her two sons.

The outcome of his case not only affects him but various other homes

in his neighborhood, Morley said.

“If the city adheres to what it is saying in my case, 50% of the

houses on my street are illegal,” he said.

The new “proactive citywide code enforcement program” that deemed his

garage illegal went into effect in August 2000. Costa Mesa code

enforcement officers have been walking the streets and targeting the

worst offenders since December.

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

what was done more than 20 years ago,” Morley said when he addressed the

council on Sept. 3.

Councilman Gary Monahan agreed.

Monahan said he wanted 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.

In Morley’s case, it is too late.

City Atty. Jerry Scheer said once the issue is taken to the courts,

the City Council no longer has jurisdiction.