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Published on 04/13/1998 All articles from this issue

Living outside city limits

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Homeowners' association goes to court for neighbors' rights in unincorporated Los Altos

Some know the San Antonio Hills Homeowners' Association as a friendly voice, one that helps residents be heard beyond their neighborhood.

Others see the association as a group that uses lawsuits to quash development or building projects it doesn't like.

The association, founded in 1941, includes about 1,100 homes around the Los Altos Golf & Country Club, between Highway 280 and Foothill Expressway. Membership is voluntary. Dues are $25 per year.

These folks have a Los Altos address, but since they are in an unincorporated area, they are governed by county zoning ordinances and planning regulations, not those of the city of Los Altos.

In addition, most of the lots are subject to restrictions, conditions and covenants (CC&Rs) that date from 1941 and require building plans to be reviewed by a San Antonio Hills approval committee.

For many, the nine-member board of directors of the association fills a power vacuum. This group is closer to home than the county offices in San Jose for receiving community issues.

"With the county, there's not the same level of concern," said Jim Nichols, a member of the association and four-year resident of Topar Avenue.

"We're for preservation of what we have," said Pete McSweeney, county liason, association historian and designated spokesman for the SAH Board of Directors. He also lives on Topar Avenue.

"San Antonio Hills represents the area residents in matters of mutual concern," he said. These concerns include everything from potholes to parking, from flooding to fences.

A neighborly voice

Just ask Ida Crawley, a member of the association.

When she moved into her home on Frontero Road, a street that fronts on and runs parallel to Foothill Expressway, the only thing between her street and the Foothill traffic was a wobbly, 4-foot chain-link fence.

She wanted a sound wall like in Los Altos. But the county told her it was too expensive.

"When you deal with the county, it's a whole different ball of wax than dealing with the city of Los Altos that listens to its residents," she said.

It took a few years, and she didn't get a sound wall, but now a sturdy 8-foot metal fence, woven with redwood strips, provides a visual barrier for her and her Frontero neighbors.

"If it hadn't been for the (SAH) board - without their help, I would have never gotten up that fence," Crawley said.

Nichols also appreciates the work of the group.

"I admire the homeowner's association and the effort they put into maintaining a semblance of continuity in the neighborhood and preventing out-of-character development.

"They are largely responsible for getting the 35-foot height allowance for a house reduced to 27 feet and for getting the floor area ratio (of house to lot size) reduced," he said.

Nichols built his house after the sizes were reduced.

Denise Welsh, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, Cornish & Carey in Los Altos, has many clients in the San Antonio Hills area.

"There's no question that the homeowners' association works to maintain and enhance the beauty and values of Los Altos," Welsh said.

Lenghty lawsuits

But the association "sued my clients to stop construction on a lot on land that had been subdivided," Welsh said. The judge ruled against the association, "and we recorded in the last six weeks."

A lawsuit that's pending can cloud the title of a property, Welsh said. And that "can be scary and intimidating."

The association has been suing for years as it struggles to enforce its CC&Rs and bring some control to monster remodels, additions and subdivisions.

But the more than 12 sets of CC&Rs do not apply uniformly to all lots in the area.

And for "some properties, we have been unable to locate the CC&Rs," said Caryn Fabian, an attorney for the association. So enforcement is tricky and tough.

The association sues property owners to comply; they counter sue.

"It used to be almost automatic," said another Los Altos Realtor. "You breathed and they sued."

Most recently the association lost a lawsuit against Michael Paiva who built a house on Topar Avenue that met county building codes and was approved in 1989 by the association.

The association claimed that Paiva's house violated the two-story limit of the CC&Rs. A four-year lawsuit ended in March with a five-day trial. Judge Jack Komar ruled that even though Paiva's house looked like four stories from the street, it, in fact, was two, and was "consistent with the houses" in that neighborhood that have been "modified."

The Paiva house has a basement, two floors of living area and an attic, and can be seen in the background of the photo on page one.

The association has "an agenda to control development," Paiva said. "The agenda is valid, but the means are not."

Officers of the association were guarded in discussing activities in San Antonio Hills.

"They are re-grouping," Fabian said, "deciding how to better operate the association to better achieve its goals."

One of the longest running lawsuits brought by the association began in the 1980s and finished in 1996.

Eugene O'Neill, now 83 and suffering from prostate cancer and a heart condition, moved to Los Altos in 1955 for acreage, he said, and bought 1.74 acres along Hillview Drive.

With retirement, he wanted to sell some property by creating three half-acre lots.

The association didn't want O'Neill to subdivide and took him to court.

"We won every step of the way," O'Neill said.

With O'Neill, "It isn't as though he was doing something dreadful in the neighborhood," said Marge Bruno, a former mayor of Los Altos and friend of O'Neill. "The lots behind his house were already half-acre lots."

O'Neill recently moved from the area.

The association is trying to "create some conformity in the area," Welsh said. "Their intentions are good. But there's so much nonconformity. Many lots are only 7,500 square feet."

Dick Kehrig remembers the lawsuit against him. Kehrig, with Bayhill Development Company, builds custom homes. In 1992 he bought a parcel on Plateau and Magdalena avenues and built three houses. The homeowners' association said he violated the CC&Rs because he didn't have separate lots and sued.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled in Kehrig's favor in 1993, stating "San Antonio Hills, Inc. is not authorized by the agreement imposing restrictions, conditions and covenants and charges alleged to encumber the Kehrig property - nor by any other documents or agreements - to maintain a legal action to enforce the subject restrictions."

According to Kehrig, who is a member of the Los Altos Golf & Country Club, "The courts have ruled the emperor has no clothes." But the legal action "literally took me out of the building business until now and cost me a hell of a lot in a strong building market."

He calls the lawsuits "frivolous and malicious."

The association currently is suing Jim Rogers, an Atherton-based developer. In 1996 Rogers bought a 34,000-square-foot parcel of three non-conforming lots on Frontero Avenue. With an approved lot-line adjustment, he created three buildable lots.

The association sought an injunction against Rogers for subdividing.

Rogers said his project is "not a subdivision. I had three legal lots. I still have three legal lots." He has spent $60,000 in legal fees.

A look ahead

The association maintains a legal fund and invites residents to make $100 contributions to the fund, "but any amount is most welcomed," according to the Feb. 19 agenda for the association's annual meeting.

The association declined to disclose any current figures. But a February 1994 to January 1995 statement showed a total income for the association of $10,625. Court and attorney expenses were $11,476.

The legal fund comes from "neighbors sticking together to fight the legal battle," McSweeney said. "We aren't using any dues."

Rogers said there is a better use of funds than spending money on lawsuits

To improve the area and manage growth, "Proper planning is the key," Rogers said. "But you can implement that with a design guideline packet that the county then enforces. That can keep someone from building a purple isometric dome. Implement positive things."

One Topar Avenue resident, Jerry Robertson, said he thought the homeowners' association was "unnecessary duplication of effort. We have a county building department, county building codes. (The association) is just another level of bureaucracy we don't have to live with."

The question of annexation into Los Altos Hills has come up in recent years. However, town officials don't appear interested, and the neighborhood does not conform to Los Altos Hills' minimum one-acre lot sizes.

Any annexation would likely come from Los Altos. The San Antonio Hills neighborhood is within Los Altos' "sphere of influence," said planning director Larry Tong. "If it is to be annexed to any city in the future, it should be looked at for annexation to the city," he said. "No one has expressed a desire to do so."

Bruno said that "they see their role as protecting the homeowners in San Antonio Hills. And they do that assiduously."