County Supervisors deny landowner's appeal, but avoid giving "death sentence."

The barn can stay, but the dirt has to move.

That was essence of a unanimous decision by County Board of Supervisors today, who were considering whether to uphold a January decision by the Planning Commission.

The commission ruled the property owner must restore a landscape a denuded landscape to its pre-violation state.

At issue was the property of Paul Flores, who cut at least 24 oak trees on his property without obtaining permits.

Flores subsequently obtained permits to grade to, and build a barn on his property, but did so without making mention of any trees being removed.

Flores also submitted plans to build a 7,200-square-foot home, but on his application he indicated the home’s water would be served by Cal Am, when in fact it would be served by an onsite well.

As a result, county planners made no assessment of the well’s viability, or whether the project would impact nearby wells.

The planning commissioners, when presented with Flores’ building plans Jan. 28, did not take kindly to the revelations, and disagreed with staff’s recommendation to grant him after-the-fact permits.

“I think it encourages people to clear-cut a property” said Commissioner Amy Roberts.

That sentiment was echoed by Commissioner Jose Mendez.

“You had to know that what you were doing was obviously illegal,” he said. “I feel that applicant willingly circumvented county policy in this process.”

They ordered Flores to remove the barn and restore the property to the way it was before, a decision later appealed by Flores’ attorney Tony Lombardo, who spoke today in front of the supervisors.

“The Planning Commission’s suggested resolution would result in a large waste of public and private resources,” he said. “The site is never going to be what it was."

Lombardo equated their ruling to “sentencing someone to the death penalty for jaywalking.”

Some neighbors who agreed the with commission, and who have been actively battling with Flores since 2013 over the illegal work he has done, argued that allowing Flores to continue building would set a precedent that would encourage other residents to ignore county code. They also said Flores knew what he was doing was illegal.

Flores’ property is in Supervisor Dave Potter’s district, who was first of the supervisors to speak on the matter.

“[The property] was heavily forested and those trees would have been taken into consideration into how this was planned,” Potter said.

Potter recommended denying the appeal and forcing Flores to restore the property to its natural grade and submit new, revised plans to the county.

But he supported letting Flores keep his 3,200-square-foot barn, which has already been completed:

“I don’t seen any point to removing it.”

The other supervisors were universally supportive of Potter’s motion.

“I appreciate all the hard work Supervisor Potter did to come up with a recommendation,” said Supervisor John Phillips.