Ruling will determine building of homes on slope of El Toro
A quibble over which 500-foot elevation line on El Toro Mountain is the right one on which to base a development decision, the quibble that started last summer’s City Hall scandal, will return to court Tuesday.
Attorney Bruce Tichinin made the request to have a judge decide where the line should be instead of the City Council because he claims the city did not follow the judge’s initial instructions on choosing an unbiased attorney to represent them.
After the council originally asked the courts to decide which line to accept, Superior Court Judge William Elfving sent the matter back to the city with a stipulation that council choose an impartial attorney to advise them on the issue.
Developer Howard Vierra and his attorney and partner Tichinin agreed. At issue was Vierra’s application to build six houses on the lower slopes of the mountain. The disputed line divides open space from land that can be developed.
If one contour line, drawn without the more accurate technology of GPS (global positioning systems) is used, Vierra’s efforts will be denied. And retired Community Development Director David Bischoff told the council in January 2004 that he thought the line was improperly placed on the map.
However, the location of that line was included in the General Plan update approved by voters. The council is claiming that the voter-approved line must be the one used.
If a second line, drawn with GPS and considered accurate by Bischoff and the Planning Commission, is used, Vierra will be able to go ahead with his small development.
Now, however, Tichinin has asked the judge to again enter the case because, he claims, Elfving’s direction for choosing an unbiased attorney was not followed.
“The City Council refused to select its new attorney in a manner retained appearance of impartiality,” Tichinin said Thursday, “because it let the city manager (Ed Tewes) and the city’s acting city attorney (William McClure) select that special attorney. The city manager is the proponent in chief of the staff position being reviewed on appeal.
McClure is a partner in Jorgenson, Siegel, McClure and Flegel, the firm that employed Leichter before she became city attorney.
Tewes has declined to jump into the fray.
“Since the matter is properly before the court, it is not appropriate for me to comment at this time,” Tewes said.
Leichter resigned in April as city attorney. It was her advice on the elevation line with which Tichinin disagreed on Vierra’s behalf that caused him to hire a private investigator to try to discover an alleged affair between Tewes and Leichter. Both strongly deny any affair.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
