A dispute between neighbors on Pennsylvania Street in Santa Maria over property boundaries recently got the attention of a Santa Barbara County supervisor.
A story published in the Sun’s Nov. 18 issue, “Challenge Thy Neighbor: Santa Maria’s Pennsylvania Street lies at the heart of a 40-year-old dispute,” reported on the story of a decades-long feud between Glenda Stafford and George Primrose.
Neighbors Stafford and Primrose have been duking it out over their properties along Pennsylvania Street for the last 40 years. Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino decided to step in an attempt to help get rid of some of the bad blood between the neighbors. Corey Bantilan, Lavagnino’s chief of staff, told the Sun that his boss will be talking with city officials to try and resolve the conflict somehow. But Bantilan added that it’s not the county’s jurisdiction to take any legal action. He said Lavagnino just wants to help.
“We’re going to sit down with the city and have a conversation,” Bantilan said. “It happens to be in the 5th District. In no way are we trying to take over the issue.” Stafford has several complaints about her neighborhood. Among them is the condition of Pennsylvania Street, which is an unpaved, private street with several bordering properties. The street acts as a right-of-way through an easement that allows residents to access to their homes. The street borders the backyard of Stafford’s property. Primrose’s residence sits along the street, behind Stafford’s backyard.
Primrose owns some of the properties on Pennsylvania street. Stafford accuses Primrose of essentially running an unsightly junkyard, with some cars and trucks sitting covered in blue tarps behind her house. Primrose said that—according to maps he paid for from a private surveying company—his property extends into Stafford’s backyard.
Stafford disputes this and has phoned in several hundred complaints to the city administrative offices as well as with the code compliance office.
Senior Code Compliance Officer Esequiel Moreno said his power to enforce code along the street is limited because it’s a private road.
Bantilan said no date has yet been set to sit down with city officials, but the problem may have to be solved within the courtroom.
“We’re trying to ask ourselves, is there some way to resolve this?” he said.
This article appears in Dec 25, 2014 – Jan 1, 2015.