Daughter of ex-mayor sues city

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 11, 2007 11:43 PM PDT ∞

MURRIETA -- The daughter of a former mayor sued the city Tuesday over its rejection earlier this year of the project -- her proposed day-care center and swim club -- that prompted her father's recall from office two years ago.

Rachael van Haaster is placing the fate of the day-care center in the hands of the same court, Riverside Superior Court, that has frequently considered the merits of her proposal -- and consistently ruled in her favor.

"I think we have a better chance there than going through (the city's) hoops again," said Mitchell Wagner, van Haaster's attorney.

Recent attempts at a resolution reached outside court were unsuccessful, Wagner said.

The Murrieta City Council initially approved the project in the spring of 2005, but the decision was quickly challenged in court by angry western Murrieta residents who live near the project site at Douglass Avenue and Vineyard Parkway -- a largely residential and equestrian neighborhood.

In addition to arguing that the project was inappropriate for the neighborhood, the residents asserted that Jack van Haaster -- Rachael's father -- attempted to influence planning commissioners on his daughter's behalf and voted improperly to spend $800,000 on street improvements to Douglass.

Those allegations also factored heavily into the May 2005 recall election that saw Jack van Haaster ousted from office.

Residents lost their challenge at both the county and appellate court levels, but in the interim, the project's permit expired.

Wagner sought to extend it while the project was being litigated. Such extensions are supposed to be perfunctory under state law, and Wagner was led to believe the permit had already been extended once, for one year.

Murrieta's city attorney at the time, John Harper, issued Wagner a letter notifying him of the approved extension, but some city leaders suspect it was granted by an official who wasn't entrusted with the power to do so.

Late last year, Wagner asked the council to approve the permit extension, but in April of this year the council members concluded they couldn't rule on the request, because they viewed the permit as already expired.

The day after the extension request was denied, Wagner said Rachael van Haaster would probably sue the city over the decision. But before he filed suit, Wagner attempted to find a compromise with city leaders.

The initial approval allowed a center designed to handle up to 200 children, with an option to double that, but Wagner offered to cap the project at 200 children.

In exchange, he asked that the project be expedited -- and that it be considered by the Murrieta Planning Commission before interim City Manager Ron Bradley retires, expected to be the end of October. Bradley, Wagner said, has been a point person in his negotiation's with the city and he didn't want to have to deal with a different city manager.

The attorney said he met with assistant city attorney Jeff Morris and Councilwoman Kelly Bennett on a couple occasions to discuss his proposal. A more recent meeting at City Hall was attended by Morris, Bennett, Bradley and Jack and Rachael van Haaster, Wagner said.

Neither Morris nor Bennett could be reached for comment Tuesday, but Gibbs said: "The van Haaster family obviously felt like the city should let them go right to Planning Commission. ... Mr. Bradley told them we'd do what we could to expedite the process."

But according to an e-mail Morris sent Wagner on Aug. 26, the project wouldn't reach the Planning Commission for at least four months, and more likely closer to seven months -- well beyond Bradley's final day in Murrieta City Hall. Morris informed Wagner that Bradley had said at least four months would be needed to complete a new environmental impact report and update noise and traffic studies first done in 2004.

Bradley declined to comment Tuesday, citing the pending litigation.

Since a compromise couldn't be reached, Wagner said the best avenue for his client was overturning the council's April decision in court. That way, a new environmental study wouldn't be needed and other challenges could be avoided.

"Hopefully, this can get heard (by the court) in 60 to 90 days," Wagner said. "If we prevail ... then we get to build."

Rachael van Haaster was unavailable for comment Tuesday, Wagner said. But in his first public comments in months, Jack van Haaster said: "My daughter tried to exhaust all reasonable avenues that she could. This is just the next step that she's been forced to take. It's regrettable."

In his court filing, Wagner alleged that bias -- a sort referred to legally as "embroilment" -- factored into the voting of three councilmen: Gibbs, Warnie Enochs and Gary Thomasian. He also contends the council's decision ignored the advice of an outside attorney hired to look into the matter.

Thomasian, Wagner noted, filed a declaration on the angry western Murrieta residents' behalf. Until recently, Enochs employed those residents' attorney while that suit was ongoing. And Gibbs, Wagner alleged, was a "political foe" of Jack van Haaster who was "hostile" to the former councilman's ethics.

Thomasian declined to comment Tuesday, citing his recent abstentions from the council's closed sessions regarding the van Haaster matter. Enochs and Mayor Doug McAllister could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

-- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.