Tehachapi News

Landlord backs down after city gets tough

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In an 11th-hour capitulation, the owners of the run-down High Mountain Apartments agreed to tough demands by the city of Tehachapi that they rehabilitate their property or lose their business license.

“They don’t want us to air their dirty laundry,” said City Manager Greg Garrett.
He said the new agreement shows that “The owners are working toward certification and they’ve done the right thing.”

A special City Council meeting scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29, to hear an appeal of the business permit suspension the city had imposed on the apartment owners was canceled early that afternoon when Steven Glass, attorney for Cherry Mountain, L.P./High Mountain Apartments, confirmed that his client would meet the conditions demanded by the city.

The owners transferred a fine of $3,500 imposed by the city into the account of the law firm the city hired to handle the case, LeBeau Thelen of
Bakersfield. The amount of the fine, according to City Manager Greg Garrett, is the highest that could be levied in the matter.

A letter from attorney Kevin E. Thelen to Glass, dated Sept. 29 and transmitted by facsimile and U.S. mail, referenced “City of Tehachapi re: Building code Enforcement (Cherry Mountain, L.P.)” and said that  “in order for the appeal hearing to be taken off calendar,” the apartment owners must agree to four conditions:

• They sign a letter dated Aug. 22, 2008, acknowledging the acceptance of the conditions in that letter.

• They pay the $3,500 fine.

• They obtain a permit to demolish the burned out recreation building.

• They write a letter to the Tehachapi City Council officially withdrawing their request for an appeal of the code enforcement action.

The Aug. 22 letter, signed by LeBeau Thelen attorney Bob Joyce, spelled out in detail the city’s remediation demands and revealed the city’s growing irritation with the apartment owners. It included a formal notice of the suspension of the apartment owners’ business permit.

“Based on your conversation with Mr. Thelen this morning,” the Aug. 22 letter said to Glass, “it is clear that your client has reverted back to the same approach taken in the two years previous to our firm’s retention and intervention in this matter. You confirmed to Mr. Thelen that your client had not solicited bids for the demolition until yesterday and only after we spoke with you and reminded you of your client’s earlier commitments. Your client has habitually failed to act on the conditions and problems brought to its attention by Inspector [John] Hasselbrink. Your client ignores its responsibilities to the tenants and the community. The City will not be patient any longer.”

The Aug. 22 letter spelled out a list of nine non-negotiable terms, including a prohibition against placing tenants in a unit that has not been inspected; the completion of a mold inspection; the creation of a flyer to inform tenants of the right to a pest inspection; the completion of pest/rodent inspection of designated units; an adjustment of coverage to include rodents as well as “just pests;” repair of furnaces; and the fine “for operating a business with a suspended or revoked business permit.”

The Aug. 22 letter was signed belatedly Sept. 29 by “Saumil Dave, as Pres. of S.R.P. Property, Inc., G.P. of Cherry Mountain, L.P.,” who acknowledged receipt and pledged compliance.