To the Editor:
My wife and I are the owners of a patio villa at 2816 Burgos Drive in the Villa La Crescenta in District 2. We bought the unit about seven years ago, largely because it offered a stoned front yard and promised to require less maintenance than sod. The previous owner had installed the stone prior to the sale. Several months ago we were shocked to receive a letter from Community Standards that we were in violation and had to replace the stone with sod or face daily fines of $50 plus an initial $150 fine. This, after seven years of no previous notice?
In checking with some neighbors, we learned that several other patio villa owners in our village also had stone, some for as many as 20 years, and 10 of us had received these letters. Further, we learned that a total of 17 homes have stone but many had already been able to get written permission from Community Standards, sometime in the past when it was evidently acceptable. When was the rule changed and why were we (and others) never notified? We would have been glad to get written permission had we been informed. That would certainly be preferable to paying thousands to put in sod. (One neighbor got an estimate of $4,000 to remove the stone and install sod.)
To add insult to injury, it was revealed that Community Standards issued our violation letters as a result of an anonymous complaint. The district has wisely agreed to at least temporarily not respond to these complaints. They could choose likewise in our case.
We have so far attended three Board of Supervisors meetings in order to get permission and the only response is that “our hands are tied.” Why? Does this sound like discrimination?
Steven Kieley
La Crescenta Villas
