DANA POINT : Homeowners Sue to Protect Views

Eleven Dana Point property owners worried about losing their views of the valley and the ocean are suing the developer of a 71-unit housing tract across the street from their homes.

The landowners along Calle La Primavera in the southeast part of the city are charging fraud in suit filed in Orange County Superior Court Tuesday. They claim that representatives from Southwest Diversified Inc. of San Francisco had promised them that the homes in the project, called the Village at Dana Point, would not block views of the Capistrano Valley, the ocean and Dana Point Harbor.

Attorney Darryl Jeffrey Paul, who is representing the homeowners in the suit, filed Tuesday, said, “The homeowners knew their first-story views would be affected, but were promised their second-story views would be saved.”

Paul R. Hamilton, the attorney for the developer, said the county approved the project before Dana Point was incorporated and that the developer followed all county regulations regarding height limitations for the project.

Some of the property owners will have their views blocked, Hamilton said, but “every one of those people knew when they bought their homes that there would be some blockage of their views.”