Property Line

An argument over a half-built redwood fence between neighboring properties resulted in the arrest Saturday of former Lawndale Councilman Dan McKenzie, 75, and his wife, Dolores, 71, for allegedly violating a court order. Eleanor Ballesteros, 65, and her daughter Audrey, 30, had won a temporary restraining order last week that required the McKenzies to move their cars from their side yard to enable workers to finish building the six-foot redwood fence between the properties.

When 8-year-old Logan Olson told his family he wanted a treehouse for his birthday, his grandfather was determined to make it not just any treehouse, but a grand one - a treehouse the whole neighborhood could admire. The tan, barn-like structure sprawls 80 square feet atop a graceful old linden tree on the front lawn of the family's single-story tract home in Billings, Mont. It has a deck on three sides, with a door that looks like a barn entry, a tire swing suspended from the floor and a pulley to hoist up lunch.

NOT HAVING ACCESS to a thermonuclear weapon, my friend Jon recently put pen to paper. He reads me what he wrote. "Dear Neighbor," he begins. "I can't decide what it is about you that I hate the most. Is it the display of bric-a-brac on your patio wall? Is it the huge American flag that hangs seven days a week, 24 hours a day, from your balcony? Is it your filthy garage, where who knows what vermin is breeding this very minute? Or is it your enormous head?"

Pam King's San Marino home has solar panels, a drought-resistant yard and an urban farm. Now she'd like some chickens to go with it. The city known as the wealthiest, quietest suburban enclave in the San Gabriel Valley doesn't allow residents to keep farm animals, but that may soon change. This month King asked the San Marino City Council to allow chickens on residential properties, and council members ordered a staff report. If San Marino goes to the birds, it would join Pasadena, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, which allow residents to keep fowl under strict guidelines.

The seventh time was definitely not a charm for the Mahlers. The Villa Park couple was in the midst of making nearly $70,000 worth of additions to their home on Henderson Way. They had paid inspection and permit fees. City building inspectors visited the construction site six times and never found a problem.

Mike Boyd and his wife, Ruth Christy, moved to this quiet, sidewalk-lined Midway City neighborhood 18 years ago, attracted to what they call an "old-fashioned" place to live. But Boyd, 73, and a handful of other residents are up in arms about a proposed 6,380-square-foot indoor gun range in their neighborhood, an unincorporated area of Orange County that borders Westminster. Residents say the range would destroy their quiet, their property values and their peace of mind. "I'm not opposed to a shooting range," Boyd said.

Regarding "Neighbor Must Prove Tree-Root Damage" (by Robert J. Bruss, Sept. 10), when branches of a tree overhang or its roots come on to property, the owner may do any of the following: apply to the court for an order imposing a mandatory injunction on the neighbor ordering him to remove the encroaching branches or roots; sue the neighbor for the damages caused by the encroaching branches or roots; without going on to the neighbor's property,...

The City Council recently overturned a Planning Commission decision denying a resident permission to build a 1,271-square-foot garage in the 12000 block of Reagan Street, 10 feet from the front property line. The city's zoning code calls for a 20-foot setback in the applicant's neighborhood. The applicants argued that a garage built 20 feet from the front property line would not be aesthetically pleasing for the property.

Andy Lang (Handyman Q&A, April 16) gave a very informative answer to a "We want to build a fence on our property" question. However, where should the property owner put the fence? Where is the property line? I am a licensed California land surveyor, and I get this question daily. The only sure way is to find the existing property line markers (if any exist) or have the line or lines established by a licensed land surveyor. An agreement line between the two neighbors is fine if the neighbors don't move or change their minds.

The concessionaire for the city-owned Greek Theater, Nederlander of California, pleaded no contest to two counts arising from a noise complaint made against two concerts last year and paid the maximum $3,400 fine. Six other counts were dismissed. Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker said the violations involved permitting the sounds of the Sting and Adam Ant performing groups to go more than 50 feet beyond the theater's property line, disturbing neighbors.

People who live along the shimmering coastline of Southern California have found many creative ways over the years to discourage the public from using the parts of the beach they would prefer to consider their own. They have put up gates that block public access and have taken down signs that say "public welcome. " The latest gambit, by residents in Newport Beach, involves planting lawns and hedges, installing sprinkler systems and fire pits, and plopping down furniture and ornaments that spill over from their property onto the public beach.

Mike Boyd and his wife, Ruth Christy, moved to this quiet, sidewalk-lined Midway City neighborhood 18 years ago, attracted to what they call an "old-fashioned" place to live. But Boyd, 73, and a handful of other residents are up in arms about a proposed 6,380-square-foot indoor gun range in their neighborhood, an unincorporated area of Orange County that borders Westminster. Residents say the range would destroy their quiet, their property values and their peace of mind. "I'm not opposed to a shooting range," Boyd said.

WILL HAWLEY'S three-bedroom Palos Verdes Estates home has a picturesque 50-foot-deep garden in back shaded by a grove of giant eucalyptus trees and separated from a meandering forested trail by an unassuming wooden fence. The backyard has been a feature he's enjoyed since he bought the home in 1998. But in October, Hawley attended a meeting of the Palos Verdes Estates City Council and returned home with bad news: About half of what he thought was his backyard is public land.

Long before the demolition crew showed up to raze most of Tracy and Kevin King's house in preparation for an extensive renovation, the Long Beach couple made an effort to ward off potential friction with their neighbors. "We had lived here for five years and didn't want any bad blood between us when we moved back into the house," Tracy King said.

People choose to live in neighborhoods for a hundred reasons -- the house, the commute, the schools -- but almost never the neighbor. The people next door are the luck of the draw, and most of us don't want to take chances. That's a big reason why there are still fences. "There's little doubt people want to know their neighbors," said Douglas B. Currivan, a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who's studied neighborhood dynamics in city and suburban settings.

We had no idea how big 40 acres were when we made an offer on a wild property in the Southern California mountains. My wife, Iris, and I raised three kids in a house with one bathroom on a small lot on the Westside. Forty acres? Disneyland only has 70. We did know that this little slice of dry, oak and pine woodland -- pretty as a California Impressionist painting -- was what we had been looking for in a second property.

In Robert Bruss' June 13 Real Estate Q&A column, "Neighbor's Vegetation Encroaches on Yard," he advised that a property owner is liable for his neighbor's vegetation if that property owner undertakes to trim the encroaching neighbor's tree branches back to the property line. He wrote that a rule of reasonableness applies, and that if after trimming back the branches the tree dies or is damaged, the property owner would be liable. It seems to me that this amounts to a taking of another's property.

"Gardeners Get Their Day in the Sun" (March 22) could have said that the gardeners are lawbreakers. They do not have business licenses, they use illegal lawn blowers and they get very aggressive and threatening when asked to stop using their illegal, ear-shattering blowers. The gardeners do not have signs on their vehicles stating their business, and judging from the looks of most of the gardens they attend they have no training. I would like to see the gardeners association defend the blowing of debris from one property line onto another or into the street or onto my vehicle.

IT'S a wonderful thing to hear of the joy of the resident priests in the new cathedral being thankful for their new "digs," and the importance of lovely sculptures and fountains for them to behold ("When Neighbors Spoil the View," by Larry Gordon, Nov. 12). They must feel blessed that the archdiocese could afford such a magnificent environment to inspire them to even greater acts of charity, and perhaps poverty. If only their inspirations stopped at their property line, the people of L.A. could worry a bit less about their next county tax bill.

They're heeeeere! That's the cry being raised in Westwood, where life threatens to imitate art in a "Poltergeist"-like dispute between homes and graves. This time it is a cemetery that is being criticized for wanting to put graves almost on top of nearby homes, however. Not the other way around, as in the Steven Spielberg-produced 1982 horror movie.