Mother of all view ordinances goes to court

Rancho Palos Verdes has one of the most -- if not the most -- restrictive view ordinances around. One element is that it allows residents to seek to have their home's view restored to levels back when their neighborhood was first subdivided. Now there are some new legal challenges to the law, according to the Daily Breeze:

Two couples filed suit against the city in late November after their trees were ordered trimmed or uprooted by the City Council in July. Rae and Mil Wyman, along with Regina and Bill O'Melveny, argue that seven nearby property owners who filed for a permit to restore their views had waited too long to make their request after the 1989 ordinance was passed. "You can't wait years and then do this. You can watch trees grow for years," Rae Wyman said. The permits should not have been granted under the statute of limitations, argued Jeff Parker, the couple's Torrance-based attorney. "What really bothers us the most here is how much time has passed since '89. Now we have people deciding close to 16 or 17 years later, saying, `I want my right,"' Parker said. "Under the law, all rights have time limitations."

Comments

[Ruby Jackson]

Figure it out, people. The home's original view wasn't spoiled by the trees back in 1989 because they were smaller then. But as the trees grew, they blocked the view. That takes time, say like 16 or 17 years.

According to the blog, the city gave them the option of trimming the trees, not only uprooting them. So, trim the trees back to 1989 size, and all will be well. If the only thing left of your trees after that is a trunk, then the tree was too big and the neighbors have a right to complain.