Homeowners in an affluent California community find themselves locked in a contentious legal dispute with a public agency determined to dismantle their pools and backyards for essential sewer maintenance.
Located in Huntington Beach, a picturesque city near Los Angeles, the issue centers around a pipeline over 60 years old that lies beneath the backyards of 29 homes and is in dire need of repairs.
The properties feature easements, which legally permit certain parties to access utilities. To conduct necessary repairs on the subterranean pipeline, the Orange County Sanitation District (OC San) must excavate significant portions of these homeowners’ yards.
While 13 residents have reached an agreement with the sanitation district, accepting compensation for the demolition, others have refused to allow their properties to be disrupted and have filed a lawsuit against OC San.
One of the dissenting homeowners, Tony Shahidi, shared his frustration with KABC, stating, “Easement means access, but OC Sanitation perceives this as ownership.”
Shahidi further argued, “Essentially, they are seizing possession of these properties without offering any financial compensation to the homeowners.”
The median sale price of homes in Huntington Beach is $1.35 million, according to Redfin. Shahidi said that if the sanitation district demolishes his backyard, he will lose ‘$350,000 of equity’ in his house.
The sanitation district has said that pools and backyards on the street have limited its ability to perform repairs and preventative maintenance on the pipeline, and it has no way to gain access other than through demolition.
Tony Shahidi and other Huntington Beach homeowners are suing the Orange County Sanitation District over its efforts to demolish their backyards in order to perform maintenance on an aging sewer pipeline. Shahidi said that if his yard is torn up, he would lose $350,000 of equity
OC San has said that it has no way to perform repairs without demolishing the backyards, which are part of an easement. Above, a demolished pool on the street
Jennifer Cabral, the Director of Communications for OC San told the Daily Mail: ‘The pipeline in this area collects and transports 10–25 million gallons of raw wastewater every day from 9 different cities.
‘The need for this work is driven by the age of the infrastructure and the importance of proactive maintenance. If access is restricted and maintenance is delayed, it increases the risk of sewer overflows, environmental harm, and impacts to public health.’
But homeowners are frustrated with the city, as they are now questioning why their requests to modify their yards were approved if those areas were part of the easement.
Homeowner Frank Clark, who purchased his house 55 years ago, told KABC that his plans to build a pool on his property were approved in 1973, and he thought ‘that was a done deal.’
But he has been told the pool now has to go as it sits on the sewer easement – something that he finds ‘outrageous.’
If Clark, Shahidi and the other homeowners fighting OC San in court lose their case, they could be responsible for paying to cover the costs of their own property’s demolition. The next hearing is scheduled for May 1.
Some homeowners who settled with the sanitation district regret the decision and were shocked by the level of damage to their properties.
Ted Beresford told CBS News that since demolition at his property began last month, ‘It’s been total, unmitigated chaos.’
Frank Clark, another homeowner on the street, questioned why his plan to build a pool in his yard was approved by the city if it was part of the easement
The median sale price of homes in Huntington Beach, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, is $1.35 million, according to Redfin
‘Unnecessary destruction. They have taken out the pool. They have destroyed the yard for no reason,’ he added before noting that he did not expect the sanitation district to remove one-third of his backyard.
Echoing Shahidi, the other homeowner on the street, Beresford also said: ‘I know there was an easement, however, an easement is not ownership. An easement is access. OC Sanitation interpreted this as an ownership.’
Cabral, the OC San Director of Communications, told the Daily Mail: ‘OC San is not taking ownership of private property—we are working within longstanding easements to maintain critical infrastructure that serves hundreds of thousands of residents.’
If the court rules in favor of the suing homeowners, it is unclear what will happen to the properties that have already had their yards demolished.
But a spokesman for OC San told KABC that the settlements signed by those individuals are binding, no matter what the court rules.
‘OC San understands that this work affects nearby residents, and we take those concerns seriously. Our goal is to be transparent and respectful while fulfilling our responsibility to protect public health and the environment,’ Cabral told the Daily Mail.
‘We remain committed to working with homeowners to minimize disruption and to restore impacted areas as quickly as possible once work is complete,’ she added.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the city of Huntington Beach for comment.
