The Monster Mansion Mash

By Jim Stebinger

Saturday, May 22 --At what point does your Santa Monica dream home become a "Monster Mansion?"

That is the thorny question city planners are wrestling with as they go through a public process to help decide just how big a home can be.

And if you have any doubts how seriously some people take this issue, ask developer Isaac Waxtein and homeowner activists Jon and Jean Sedillos.

Waxtein was building three houses north of Montana Avenue when the trouble started. According to his attorney, Alton Burkhalter, the three houses were not particularly close together. One was on 18th St., one on 21st Place and the third more than one block away.

A swastika was painted on one construction site and banners, including one that said "Another Hog House Brought to You by Isaac Waxtein" were placed on the others. The banners were 2 feet by10 feet, Burkhalter said, and showed "a lot of work and very concerted effort."

Waxtein suspected the Sedilloses, and filed a suit against the self-described "homeowner activists." In a statement, the defendants acknowledge they "actively oppose the 'monster mansions' built by Waxtein and others in Santa Monica's north-of-Montana-neighborhood." But the couple adamantly denies the vandalism.

The Sedilloses saw the issue as an attempt to silence their criticism and chill their efforts to limit the size of houses in the city, where quaint bungalows are being replaced by "monster mansions."

"We had to fight this suit so that the next developer who gets irritated with public opposition will see that spending tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees, private investigators, and forensic experts -- as Waxtein did - may not achieve the desired result," Jon Sedillos explained.

Burkhalter said the real issue was vandalism, and a rather personal attack on Waxtein. He said Waxtein was not building a super-large house, but he did not know the exact size of the structure. Waxtein's projects - several blocks apart - were the only houses targeted.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Richard Kalustian gave Waxtein ten days to produce a valid complaint or have his lawsuit thrown out of court. Immediately after the ruling the case was settled.

The Sedilloses said Kalustian tossed the suit out of court for lack of merit.

"The judge found the same problem Jon and I did with this idiotic lawsuit," said Jean Sedillos. "There were no facts involved -- only the desire of Waxtein and his designer, J. Charles, to retaliate against people who would criticize, and limit the size of, their monster mansions."

Burkhalter countered that the merits of the case were never ruled on, and that the court wanted changes in the pleading that were "very easy to cure."

Burkhalter said he and Waxtein stand by their lawsuit and that Waxtein wanted a settlement because the developer had made his point.

According to Burkhalter, Waxtein does not want to be singled out as a target by anti-development forces, and did not want to have his building sites vandalized.
Burkhalter said Waxtein will conform to all city size requirements. Those regulations, Burkhalter said, need to be set by the city.

For both sides it was expensive to make a point. The Sedilloses acknowledge $22,000 in attorney fees, which they said was paid through their homeowners insurance. What Waxtein spent is not known. The activists claim that in addition to 15 hours of depositions Waxtein spent large sums on private investigators and forensics experts.

Both sides have agreed to stop legal actions against each other. The Sedilloses said they have agreed not to sue Waxtein for malicious prosecution in return for his donation of $3,750 to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's fund for the restoration of Barnum Hall, the historic theater on the Santa Monica High School campus.