The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Robert Scheer

No one has lived in this home on Balsam since 1996, when a fire made it uninhabitable.

City slaps fine on rundown home

Council placed lien on home after owner failed to make repairs

By Justin Berton

Members of the Sunnyvale City Council slapped a $78,800 lien on a rundown house as the defiant owner alleged the city was plotting a conspiracy against him. In response, Mayor Jim Roberts threatened to remove him from chambers.

At the March 24 meeting Patrick McGrath, owner of the house at 550 Balsam, launched into a tirade against city employees, claiming the lien was the city's justification for "trump[ing] up this big bureacratic fiasco."

No one has rented the premises since a fire damaged the home in December 1996. The city ordered McGrath to make the property habitable within a year after the fire. In May 1997 inspectors ordered McGrath to stop working on the roof and gas heater when they discovered he was doing so without the proper permits. He later provided the necessary permits but failed to complete work by the deadline given.

Councilmembers also fined him for multiple violations, including leaky roofs and accumulation of trash and debris in the yard.

McGrath argued that the repairs had been made, but that inspectors overlooked the progress of his work.

McGrath walked out of the chambers immediately after the unanimous decision and chose not to comment on the issue when reached later.

On Thursday, two days after the city imposed the lien, a neighbor saw McGrath working on the dilapidated house.

Nick Diquisto, a 19-year-old who lives across the street from the house, said he saw McGrath pull up in his yellow station wagon at about 9 a.m.

Diquisto said he watched McGrath fix the windows and then hang plywood over the finished work to prevent vandalism.

On the same day, dried feces and broken glass lay in the front doorway of the residence.

Ashes from a fire that damaged the home in December 1996 and charred wood still remain on the property.

McGrath complained that the city's stop-work order prevented him from bringing the house up to code.

"As soon as you stop stopping me, I'll go fix it up," he told the council before sitting down at the Tuesday meeting.

Once councilmembers and staff began discussing the issue, McGrath interrupted the proceedings three times from his seat in the third row, shouting, "That's not true."

"Blaming it on a vast conspiracy is just unbelievable," Councilmember Jack Walker said of McGrath's allegations.

After McGrath's third interruption, Mayor Jim Roberts pointed his left finger at him and demanded, "Please, Mr. McGrath, don't make me have to have you removed from the chambers."

McGrath remained silent for the remainder of the council's remarks, then stormed out of the chambers after the resolution passed.

According to city reports, after a fire damaged the residence in 1996, the Building Safety Division prepared a list of repairs for McGrath. In March 1997 inspectors returned to the home to check on the improvements and found leaky roofs, missing windows and an inoperative heater. Inspectors deemed the property uninhabitable and placed a sign on the front door that read, "Unsafe for human occupancy."

The city fined McGrath $3,405 for failing to complete the work, and McGrath paid it on the final day due, July 16, 1997.

McGrath then applied for and received the required building permits in September to continue repairs.

The deadline to complete work was in December, a deadline the city says McGrath ignored. The city levied administrative fines of $200 per violation per day against McGrath, totaling $78,800.

McGrath also alleged that a neighbor, who McGrath claimed was a public safety officer with the city of Sunnyvale, was intentionally vandalizing the property in hopes of running McGrath out of the neighborhood.

McGrath also insinuated that the employee of the city was using his influence within the city to impose the lien.

"If it's true, that's a very serious act by a city employee," Roberts said. "Can you name that employee?"

McGrath refused, saying he didn't want to escalate the matter.

Two neighbors later confirmed an person McGrath referred to is not a city employee but an officer in the San Francisco Police Department.

Councilmembers briefly discussed an alternative to the lien by enacting an abatement process whereby the city would bring the house to code and bill the owner.

The council's actions mark the first time the city of Sunnyvale has imposed a lien on a residential home.

The city will be able to collect the lien and accrued interest once the property is sold.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 1, 1998.
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