Motions Hearing Set in Lawsuit Against Rancho Palos Verdes Over Rooftop Cemetery

PALOS VERDES, CA — A motions hearing is scheduled Thursday in a lawsuit by residents of the Vista Verde condominium complex in Lomita against Green Hills Memorial Park and the city of Rancho Palos Verdes.

The nuisance suit seeks $17 million in damages for the blocked view, noise and other problems they allege are associated with rooftop interments on a mausoleum within the cemetery.

A motions hearing is a pre-trial proceeding where both parties orally argue their positions and set the boundaries for trial.

Residents of the Vista Verde complex state in their Los Angeles Superior Court nuisance lawsuit that human remains are interred within the Pacific Terrace Mausoleum at Green Hills Memorial Park, only eight feet away from their property line.

Green Hills' rooftop burials have created "conditions harmful to the physical and mental health and well-being of plaintiffs, in that (they) have had to endure their privacy being invaded by mourners at funerals glaring into their living rooms," the suit states.

Representatives of the city and Green Hills did not immediately return calls for comment.

The residents say they no longer have the "unencumbered" use of their balconies because of the funerals and the gathering of mourners. They also have lost the views they once had from their balconies, have had to endure noise from the digging of plots, and cannot enjoy the pools and common areas of the complex the way they did before, according to their lawsuit.

Building permits for the Pacific Terrace Mausoleum were issued by the city to Green Hills in February 2012 and construction was finished in September 2013, the suit says.

Soon after the residents complained about the rooftop interments, the city hired an outside consultant to investigate how Green Hills was able to build a mausoleum so close to the plaintiffs' property and 30 feet above ground, the suit states.

"The results of the city's investigation found that while the city's planners and planning director committed errors and oversights in how they administered Green Hill's land use entitlement requests, the opinion was that the administrative errors were not intentional," according to the lawsuit.

However, the investigation also found that Green Hills "had practiced deceit and made false representations to the city" which led to the rooftop interments, the suit alleges.

"Nothing in the city's zoning code specifically allows for the interments on the roof of any structure within a cemetery," the suit says, adding, "nothing in state law contemplates the interment of human remains on rooftops."

Green Hills has never sought a variance permitting the interment of deceased individuals, according to the suit, that includes several exhibits, including a photo of a rooftop interment taken from the balcony of a plaintiff's unit.

— City News Service contributed to this report, photo via Shutterstock