Nursery’s Sunscreen Plan Sparks Protests

For years, residents along Chestnut Avenue have feared pesticides being used by a nearby wholesale nursery. Now the prospect of a huge sunscreen being erected to shade plants is causing them to fear the potential for crime as well.

“This big, black screen is only five feet from our property line and it gives [criminals] a place to hide,” said Jerry D. Dierking, a resident leading a campaign to stop the 10-foot-tall sunscreen from being built.

He and other neighbors noticed the pipes to hold the screen being placed on the property line of Village Nurseries in February and went to City Hall to check permits, Dierking said.

That alerted city officials, who informed the nursery owners that they will need a conditional use permit to build the structure.

Work was halted and the city anticipates holding a hearing before the Planning Commission on the issue as soon as the nursery submits plans.

“They decided that they better follow the rules,” Community Development Director Jack McGee said.

While the area is zoned for residential homes, wholesale nurseries are allowed because they are usually quiet, low-intensity kind of neighbors, McGee said.

The Orange County agricultural commissioner’s office has investigated the nursery’s pesticide use in years past but has no violations on record. And police reports show no alarming crime rates in the area.

But neighbors said the screen, which could run along the property lines of eight homes, will cut off their views and make it easier for robbers to evade capture as they hop fences.

Dierking has started a letter-writing campaign to Southern California Edison, which is the property leaseholder, the state Public Utilities Commission and a host of politicians in both state and local arenas.

“The basic problem I have encountered in this effort to get this structure relocated is apathy from public officials,” said Dierking, who added that city planning officials have at least suspended work on the screen.

Village Nurseries officials were unavailable for comment Monday, but they will have a chance to respond to residents when a hearing date is set.

Neighborhood compatibility is one of the issues the planning commissioners consider when deciding whether to grant a permit, McGee noted.