MURRIETA - For weeks, some city leaders have worried that the increasing number of foreclosed homes would be subject to neglect or even vandalism.

They got a glimpse of what might be earlier this month, when several residents publicly alleged that skeletons of 16 townhouses just north of Temecula had been repeatedly burglarized over a two-year period and have become an occasional haven for vagrants.

The Warm Springs Townhomes on Torrey Pines Road are not in foreclosure, because they were never finished, city officials said.

The owner of the lot went bankrupt before the town homes were finished. The homes neighbor a community of upscale single-family homes on medium-size lots.

The units were not kept up, even with city code enforcement warning and then repeatedly citing the owner, Murrieta city and police officials said.

At least half of the residents' allegations are correct: the townhouses have been burglarized and tagged, and appear to be sites for paint-balling.

For weeks, shards of double-pane window glass rested on much of the ground surrounding the two-story townhouses, just east of Margarita Road in southern Murrieta. Some first-floor windows recently were replaced and a fence now wraps the entire property, officials said. Saturday morning, a security guard patrolled the property.

"Nobody has listened until now," said resident Pamela Pullen, 54, of the townhouses. "It had to get to the point of danger - to the point you could see it."

Resident Silvia Provenzano, 43, no longer jogs by the property or lets her children walk by. She lives next door to the townhouses.

"This is great shelter for somebody who's trying to hide out," said Provenzano as she walked through the complex for the first time last week. "It's eerie to think who could be in here looking down at our yard."

The Lido Drive residents - who have formed a neighborhood watch group - say they want the townhouses bulldozed, an idea endorsed by several city leaders.

"That would be the ideal situation," said resident Georg Stoye, 69. "I had to stop walking. Why? Because I don't feel safe. I don't know who's in there."

The residents contend members of gangs have congregated at the town homes, but records indicate otherwise, said Murrieta Lt. Dennis Vrooman.

Within the last year, police officers visited the site 37 times - 22 of which were prompted by residents' calls - and arrested just one person for trespassing and vandalism.

"None of the calls for service have been gang-related," Vrooman said. "They have all been trespass- and vandalism-related."

Residents are particularly concerned about safety during daylight hours because the homes are within a short walk of Warm Springs Middle School, and are only partially closed in by a fence off Torrey Pines.

Patrol officers occasionally visit the homes unprompted, Vrooman said, while officers assigned to nearby schools watch the area, according to Karen Parris, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District's spokeswoman.

Murrieta officials have begun to discuss how to remove the blight from an otherwise upscale Torrey Pines Road, Deputy City Manager Jim Holston said.

"We're actively looking at a way to make the landowner responsible for clean-up fees," City Attorney Leslie Devaney said.

Coincidentally, the city has been preparing an ordinance that would make the property owner of an abandoned or vacant building - including banks and foreclosure companies - responsible for upkeep, Devaney said.

That ordinance is expected to come before the City Council in January.