By Mary O’KEEFE

For 15 years the buildings on the former Rockhaven property have languished in the “Twilight Zone”-type realm of reality. While the site evokes praise from everyone from City of Glendale officials to local residents, unfortunately maintenance on the bungalows that make up this formerly woman-owned and operated sanitarium has been neglected.

CVW has written several articles concerning Rockhaven Sanitarium, including a recent one that highlighted its 100^th anniversary. Initially the property was on the developer’s chopping block but then in 2008, with the support of a grassroots effort that later became known as Friends of Rockhaven, the City purchased the property. The idea at the time was to move the Montrose Library onto the property, which is east on Honolulu Avenue, as well as developing a park at the location. Then the economy took a downturn and development fees for cities were cut. From that time on Friends of Rockhaven has continued to fight to protect Rockhaven, including getting several of the bungalows listed on the national and state historical registry.

In 2020 CVW published an article regarding the apparent practice by the City of demolition by neglect and how Rockhaven appeared to have fallen victim to this practice.

“Demolition by Neglect means the process in which the owner of a building or structure allows its ongoing deterioration over a period of time as a result of lack of maintenance, failure to secure it from pests or vandals, and/or failure to take reasonable measures to prevent ingress of water or wind through the roof, walls, or apertures, leading to deterioration and/or structural failure constituting a threat to public health and safety,” according to the City of Glendale’s Municipal Code 15.20.020.

In that 2020 article it was pointed out that several bungalows on the property had roofs in such disrepair that water had seeped in to the interior causing some buildings to become “not safe” to enter.

The Glendale Municipal Code specifically references the conditions found at Rockhaven, namely the failure to secure the site and the failure to take measures to prevent ingress of water, leading to a threat to safety. The Code also admonishes these conditions stating in 15.20.120 Duty to Maintain Historic Resources: “Every owner of a designated historic resource shall maintain [the property in a manner that] does not constitute ‘demolition by neglect’ and prevents deterioration, dilapidation and decay of any portion of such resource,” according to the 2020 article.

When asked pointedly about these conditions, which resemble “demolition by neglect,” Eliza Papazian, City spokesperson at the time said, “The City is not deliberately letting the property deteriorate. The City treasures the historical significance of Rockhaven and will continue to uphold it.”

However, the roofs were not repaired and were not tarped properly allowing recent rains to cause more damage to the buildings.

According to Joanna Linkchorst, president of Friends of Rockhaven, she had been conducting tours to help raise funds to support Rockhaven. Tours were done with the City’s permission; however, over the years due to the lack of maintenance the tours that once allowed walkthroughs of almost all the buildings became more and more limited. The last City-sanctioned tour conducted by Friends of Rockhaven only allowed exterior views.

Friends of Rockhaven saw more wet weather affecting the property and its buildings. They watched as inadequate tarps that the City had indicated would be placed on the rooftops would once again be a “Bandaid” to the real problem of the bad roofs. The organization decided to file a lawsuit asking the City to conduct regular and permanent maintenance at Rockhaven.

According to Linkchorst, filing a lawsuit was the organization’s last resort but, after 15 years, Friends of Rockhaven felt they had given the City enough time to take care of the buildings. The lawsuit also asks for an accounting of the funds that had been put aside for Rockhaven’s maintenance.

There has been some work done at Rockhaven. According to Bradley Calvert, director of Community Development for the City of Glendale, “The current activity is the completion of the tarping of the roofs and completing the roofing at the Pines Cottage building. This is anticipated to be completed in the next couple [of] weeks.”

During the Tuesday, May 9 Glendale City Council meeting, in speaking about the Council workplan and follow-up list, which consists of over 100 items, councilmember Ara Najarian suggested that Rockhaven be taken off that list.

“Hello – we’ve been sued. We’ve been sued by the Friends of Rockhaven. We have no idea how a judge is going to react or how a judge is going to rule. The work that we do – whether it is engineering, analyzing, actual construction – may all be to  naught if a judge says you save every single bungalow on that property or you can wipe everything off that property,” Najarian said. “We are spinning and wasting our time having to do anything with Rockhaven and it wasn’t at our initiation – it was the Friends of Rockhaven that shot the first shot across our bow.”

Both Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian and Mayor Dan Brotman voiced their concern for taking Rockhaven off the work list. Both were worried about the impression this action may present, that the City is not serious about the maintenance of historical Rockhaven. They also didn’t see any reason to remove it from the work list since the City wants to continue taking care of the site.

City Attorney Michael Garcia also agreed there was not a reason to take Rockhaven off the work list regardless of the lawsuit.

Currently Rockhaven is still on the work list.