LOS ANGELES — One day last summer, workers for the Southern California Gas Co. were on a plot of land the utility owns that sits above the home of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in La Habra Heights. Some sheriff’s officials approached and asked about the possibility of the department building a helicopter landing pad on the property.
The utility declined the request.
Despite the rejection, construction of a helicopter pad began, with a crew grading an area and hauling in dirt in recent weeks, according to the La Habra Heights city manager and a letter the gas company sent to L.A. County. In the cease-and-desist letter, an attorney for the gas company demanded that the work on the helipad stop and that the county undo what was done to the land.
The gas company’s property sits behind a chain link fence with signs warning against trespassing and tampering.
“This activity was without the authorization or approval of SoCalGas, for which SoCalGas would be entitled to damages for trespass and inverse condemnation,” Michelle Meghrouni, a lawyer for the utility, said in the letter.
In the letter, addressed to L.A. County Counsel Rodrigo Castro-Silva, the utility said the construction on land once used as a gas storage field is believed to have occurred sometime between Jan. 15 and February. The company learned of the construction when the assistant city manager of La Habra Heights inquired as to whether it had permits for the work, according to the letter.
The utility asked that the county designate someone to be in charge of ensuring construction is halted and that the land be restored. The remediation work, the company said, will include “testing for the environmental quality and removal of the soil brought onto the Property.”
The utility declined to comment. In a response to the utility, county attorneys wrote that they had directed the Sheriff’s Department to “immediately cease any and all activities” on the property while the county conducts an investigation. Villanueva did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Purchasing documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that the Sheriff’s Department hired a contractor for nearly $5,000 in January to perform what was billed as “security upgrades.” The Sheriff’s Department indicated in the documents that “grading this area is essential for safety and security of the sheriff. This graded area will provide a safe area for a helicopter to land in the event of an emergency.”
The emergencies envisioned by Sheriff’s officials are unknown. However, Villanueva’s home, like the residences of other public officials, was a gathering spot last fall for demonstrators who called on the sheriff to release the names of deputies involved in recent fatal shootings. The Sheriff’s Department has declined to do so, citing threats of violence against the deputies, without providing details.
Villanueva said at the time that his home address had been plastered on banners hung from overpasses on freeways and on fliers stuck to telephone poles that resembled fugitive wanted posters.
The roughly 14 protesters who showed up to Villanueva’s house one afternoon in November were matched almost one-to-one by a line of deputies with batons. Protesters chanted: “Villanueva you can’t hide, we want killer deputies identified,” and “Give us the names.” A helicopter circled overhead.
La Habra Heights City Manager Fabiola Huerta said the city received a complaint on the evening of Feb. 2 about dirt being moved and equipment on the property. City investigators visited the location the following morning and found that the slope of the hillside had been leveled. She said any type of grading done in the hillside community requires a permit.
The city notified the utility about the complaint and opened an investigation into city code violations.
“From the information we received from the Gas Company, I believe it was the Sheriff’s Department doing the work,” she said.
La Habra Heights, an upscale residential community of about 1,800 single-family homes in the hills between Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley, has no specific rules governing the construction of helicopter pads, but any request to do so would be sent to the Planning Commission for review, she said.
Huerta told the Times that no one had pulled a permit to build a helicopter pad at either address — or anywhere else in the city. And the Sheriff’s Department did not notify the city of any construction.
“We’re actually very small,” she said. “So something like that would really stand out.”
———
.png?w=600)
