EAST PALO ALTO: Peppertree owner sues city

Apartment owner claims city officials are guilty of extorting him

East Palo Alto city officials say the Peppertree Apartments on East Bayshore Road are "despicable," with people forced to live under horrible conditions.

The building was condemned Jan. 29 when officials declared it unfit for human habitation because of building, health and fire code violations. More than 100 residents were forced to leave with only a few hours notice.

But now the owner of the Peppertree, Richard Herndon, has filed a lawsuit against Mayor R.B. Jones and Vice Mayor Sharifa Wilson. Herndon claims that Jones and Wilson threatened to find code violations and close down the apartment complex unless he accepted the price they quoted him in the city's effort to buy the apartment complex and tear it down to make way for the Gateway redevelopment project.

"If I did not (agree to the city's price offer) they said they would call the fire department and health department and put my people in motels," Herndon said.

Wilson denied Herndon's allegation.

"That allegation is totally false," Wilson said. "We never told him we would call anybody to do anything."

Wilson said that she and Jones met with Herndon Jan. 15 to talk about a price for the 33-unit apartment complex. The city made an offer, and Herndon made a much higher counter-offer, she said.

"We were trying to find a middle ground," Wilson said. "But his reply was that he had Pete McCloskey as his lawyer and he was suing us."

McCloskey, the longtime former member of Congress and Woodside lawyer, filed suit against the Redevelopment Agency of East Palo Alto, Jones and Wilson on Feb. 2 in San Mateo County Superior Court.

The lawsuit alleges "inverse condemnation" on the city's part. Herndon said the city officials attempted to commit extortion against him.

The city offered to pay Herndon $790,000 for the Peppertree Apartments, while his counter-offer was $1.98 million.

City Manager Jerry Groomes also denied Herndon's allegation, noting that the city has no control over the Menlo Park Fire Protection District or the San Mateo County Health Services Agency. Inspectors from those two agencies, along with city building inspectors, found numerous health, building and fire code violations at the complex Jan. 29.

Mike Bethke, director of planning and public works for East Palo Alto, said that there was a significant safety hazard from gas leaks, which triggered a mandatory evacuation of the building in the evening of Jan. 29.

City officials gave Herndon an eight-page list of all the violations Feb. 4. The fire district and county also gave Herndon letters indicating multiple code violations.

"The building was found to be substandard and presenting a continuing specific hazard with respect to the natural gas supply service interruption," said Zander Karim, senior environmental health specialist for the San Mateo County Health Services Agency, in a Feb. 2 letter to Herndon. "The very poor maintenance history of this property has been previously documented, the recurrence of a gas supply interruption, and concerns about your ability and willingness to restore the gas supply according to building standards provided the basis for formal closure of the building."

In addition to gas leaks and structural problems, the inspectors said the building lacked smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, had overloaded electric outlets as residents plugged in heaters and hotplates, and "fire hoses were rotten and destroyed." One tenant was found to have a five-gallon propane tank for cooking purposes, which is illegal.

Herndon's lawsuit claims that the city's actions, including the Jan. 15 negotiation, the Jan. 29 inspection, and the Jan. 29 forced evacuation of tenants, "constituted a taking and damaging of (Herndon's) property at 1777 East Bayshore Road for public use." The lawsuit asks $2 million in damages from the city.

--Don Kazak

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