Councilman Accused of Zoning Violation : City Atty. Filing Storage Yard Complaint; Acosta Denies Culpability

Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper said Tuesday that he is filing a misdemeanor criminal complaint against Councilman John Acosta for zoning violations at a storage yard he uses in the Logan neighborhood.

“He is using property zoned as residential for industrial or commercial uses,” Cooper said. “I have an obligation to uphold the laws of the city.” Acosta, however, says that a former city planning director told him that the yard does not violate zoning laws. He charged that the complaint is politically motivated and that his opponents on the council are behind it.

“Cooper has been backed into a corner and made to prosecute this by my political enemies,” Acosta said.

Building Material Stored

The yard, which Acosta uses to store bricks and other materials for his masonry business, is at 1002 N. Logan Street, in the heart of Barrio Logan, one of the city’s oldest Latino enclaves. The neighborhood, about half a mile east of downtown, is a mix of small houses and small manufacturing businesses, towing yards and vacant lots--a testimony to its complicated zoning history.

Before World War II, the area was the only place in the city where Latinos could buy property. After the war, small industry began to move into the neighborhood, which was zoned for manufacturing. In 1979, the City Council agreed to a mixed-zoning neighborhood, with some lots carrying residential designations and others slated for manufacturing uses. In either case, a property owner could apply for a conditional use permit for an otherwise non-permitted use.

Last year, the City Council made another change in Barrio Logan’s zoning, eliminating the conditional-use-permit provision. Now a property owner unhappy with his or her lot’s zoning must ask the City Council for a full zoning change.

Acosta’s yard--which he leases for property tax payments and upkeep from Esther Hernandez, who is also named in the complaint--is on a lot that is zoned for residential use, according to city records. But when Acosta began using the yard in 1982, he got a letter from city Planning Director Phil Freeland stating that the property could be used for a contracting storage area.

‘Standing on Principle

“I’m standing on principle here. . . . I’m not above the law,” Acosta said. “If I didn’t have this letter, I certainly would have packed up my belongings and gone long ago.”

Cooper says the letter “is wrong” now and was wrong when Freeland wrote it. The zoning on the lot in 1982 permitted only residential uses, unless a conditional use permit for another type of use was obtained, Deputy City Atty. Frank Rhemrev said.

But Acosta wonders “why did it take them six years to determine that now there exists a zoning violation.” Acosta said he would subpoena Freeland to testify on his behalf in the case.

The city’s Planning Department turned the case over to Cooper in March, a year after it first notified Acosta that the storage yard violated zoning regulations. Cooper, in turn, turned the matter over to the Orange County district attorney’s office, arguing that he worked for Acosta and deciding whether or not to prosecute him would pose a conflict of interest. Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward J. Merrilees, however, decided last month that the case posed no conflict of interest for Cooper and kicked it back to him. “He works for the city, not that one individual councilman,” Merrilees said. “We think he can act independently.” Cooper said Tuesday: “Faced with that, I had to make a decision.”

Mayor Dan Young, Acosta’s opponent in the city’s first mayoral election in November, rejected Acosta’s accusation that the complaint is politically motivated. “Of course it’s not true,” Young said. “It’s completely inappropriate to put a salvage yard in a (residential) neighborhood and effectively trash the neighborhood. . . . He is showing through his business practices that he is willing to violate the very standards we are trying to promote in our city.” Acosta and Hernandez face maximum penalties of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine on each of the two counts contained in the complaint.