Volunteers may clean Dover Drive home

June Casagrande

Plans are in place to clean up a junk-strewn Dover Drive home, but

even the people who will do the work have said that it’s too early to

be sure that the 40-year problem will soon be solved.

An independent hearing officer in December declared Elmer

Thomassen’s home at 1918 Dover Drive to be a public nuisance. The

officer ordered Thomassen to clean up the property. The deadline for

the cleanup was Monday, but Thomassen has appealed to the Newport

Beach City Council to overturn the ruling, claiming he needs more

time. The council is expected to consider the matter on Feb. 10.

In the meantime, local charity Go and Do Likewise has offered to

clean up debris from the yard, paint the house’s exterior and perform

other work.

“It’s our understanding that we will be starting the work,” said

Terry Debay, spokesman for the organization.

The decision was arrived at in a meeting with Thomassen and city

officials, Debay said.

Members of Go and Do Likewise have set aside the first three

weekends in March to perform the work.

“At this point, we’re moving forward with the plan to be there,”

Debay said.

Thomassen could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Though Thomassen has resisted cleaning up the property for years,

at times becoming defensive and belligerent, Assistant City Atty. Dan

Ohl said he’s hopeful that Thomassen will let Go and Do Likewise

volunteers perform the work.

“He’s been very receptive so far,” Ohl said. “So we’re hopeful

that that receptive attitude will hold true.”

Complaints about Thomassen’s house -- and city efforts to resolve

them -- date back to 1961. In the latest public hearing on the

property, officials documented a number of code violations and other

problems that blighted not just the house but the whole neighborhood.

Tires on the roof, roofing tiles on the lawn, chairs, lumber cooking

pots, buckets, discarded doors, electrical cords and garbage have

been documented as littering the yard.

After the hearing in December, officials gave Thomassen a list of

items that needed to be cleaned up at the property and a deadline to

dispose of them. After Thomassen reported that he was in Reno, Nev.,

receiving medical treatment for a number of problems including

lymphoma, city officials extended the deadline to Monday. But because

he filed an appeal, the City Council will now decide a deadline for

cleaning up the property.

If Thomassen doesn’t comply, the city will go to court to request

the authority to go onto Thomassen’s property and clean it up for

him.