Razing the Roof : Irate Neighbors Say House Exceeds Glendora Height Limit

It may be Darwin Paulson’s dream mansion, but city officials in Glendora say the dream has soared two feet above local height limits and the roof must be cut back to size.

Paulson, who said he already has invested $230,000 in the 7,000-square-foot, two-story Colonial-style house, contends that redesigning the roof will cost more than $60,000 while forcing him to scrap the wood from the rafters.

Hostile neighbors do not appear to be concerned about how Paulson manages to shave two feet off his roof or how much money he has tied up in his dream. He said they’ve pelted his partially built house with eggs and even tossed a few at him while he was gardening.

“Another (person) hung a sign out on my balcony saying I was building a cathouse,” Paulson said. “They stapled it to one of my pieces of plywood” and hung it from a nail on the veranda, he said.

Residents on the quiet street in north Glendora complain that the house is oversized and the property has been left unkempt while Paulson battles with the city.

“All the neighbors agree it’s going to be an ugly house,” said Sue Gharring, one of 36 neighbors who signed a petition in June urging the City Council to deny Paulson permission to build above the 25-foot height limit.

“It’s one thing to stop building, but with all the weeds around it and a fence that’s halfway falling down all the time, it’s such an eyesore,” Gharring said.

The petition demanded “significant modification” of the house so that it conforms with the existing homes.

“It’s overwhelming,” Paulson’s next-door neighbor, Valerie Wallace, said of the sprawling house.

“It’s hurt us financially,” she said, referring to the value of her home. “People stop our kids in the street asking, ‘What is that? A hotel?’ ”

Her husband, Kenneth, said the house would look better on a five-acre parcel than on the 13,000 square feet of Paulson’s lot.

One neighbor even went to police with allegations that Paulson--a 21-year veteran of Glendora’s Police Department--had benefited from favoritism from city officials in getting his building permits.

The battle over the rooftop has now found its way into Pomona Superior Court, where Paulson is seeking an order forcing the city to honor a variance he was granted in 1984 to exceed the height limit.

That permit, however, expired in 1985, before Paulson began construction. In fact, he didn’t break ground until 1987, after the city’s building department gave him the green light to proceed.

Enter the neighbors.

After their complaints that the house was too tall, the city ordered Paulson to stop construction in 1988, advising him to reduce the height or apply for a new variance. He applied twice, only to be rejected twice.

Paulson is incensed that the city waited a year after he began construction to order a halt. He has since been allowed to resume work on the first and second stories.

“We’ve done nothing in this house that doesn’t have city approval,” Paulson said. “All that’s left is the inside.”

Paulson’s lawsuit claims that his 1984 variance is still valid, and that complaints from neighbors are the only reason city officials have raised the height issue.

Mayor Leonard Martyns and Planning and Redevelopment Director Stan Wong declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation.

Meanwhile, Glendora’s Police Department launched a monthlong investigation of Paulson this summer after the neighbors claimed favoritism in the way he was granted his building permits.

The department has turned its report over to the district attorney’s office for review, said Police Chief Oliver Posey, adding that officers investigated possibilities of collusion, conspiracy or bribery. No one has been charged in connection with that investigation.

When Paulson was informed of the inquiry while on duty, “I just blew,” he said. He was taken to a hospital and has since filed a disability claim with the city.

He has been unable to work since June 28 “because of stress brought upon by the unfounded criminal investigation,” Paulson said, adding that he will not return to the department.

None of Paulson’s difficulties has mitigated his neighbors’ opposition to his home, however.

“One neighbor called it Early American Ugly,” Paulson recalled. “Maybe they don’t like it, but let me finish it and it’ll be a whole heck of a lot better than it is today.”