Critics say Calabasas officials used excessive force when they raided a rural ranch on July 8 looking for code violations. Four residents were forced to leave their Stokes Canyon ranch when the city had their water and power turned off.

According to court documents, the property occupied by 70-year-old Lloyd Smith and three other men contained several makeshift structures that were built without permits and equipped with illegal electrical and sewage disposal systems.

The rural encampment was said to be in “disarray with a myriad of junk and debris.” Sewer lines from trailers were lying on the ground and appeared to be dumping waste into Stokes Creek. Unsafe outdoor electrical extension cords posed a fire hazard, the city said. The code violations and squalid conditions constituted a threat to public health and safety, officials said.

The 35-acre ranch came onto the city’s radar in March while Community Development Director Maureen Tamuri was studying satellite photos of the area east of Malibu Canyon Road.

City officials contacted the property owners with a request to inspect the site but were denied. The city obtained an inspection warrant to check the property without advance warning.

The ranch is co-owned by Daniel and Karen Miller of Camarillo and Edgar and Cindy Smith of Newbury Park. The family has owned the property since the 1940s.

After an inspection, the city ordered utility companies to cut off water and power to the property, forcing longtime occupants Charles Jeffrey Sump, Clark Smith, Lloyd Smith and his son Gary Smith to vacate their homes.

On Aug. 1, Lloyd Smith was hospitalized with health problems allegedly aggravated by stress. David Lewis, a family friend of the Smiths, objected to the city’s raid.

“I am outraged that my friend has been displaced based on allegations, many of which are unsubstantiated and some of which are untrue,” Lewis said.

“Nobody is saying that the property was tidy or didn’t need work. But using commando raid tactics to come in was unnecessary.”

Lewis said the city gave the property owners only two days to obtain permits and hire a contractor to fix the alleged violations. “This is impossible to comply with,” he said.

At a meeting last week, Calabasas Highlands resident Elizabeth Stevens criticized the city’s tactics. “This is not very neighborly or civil,” Stevens said.

Mayor Barry Groveman defended the city’s tactics. “People should really look at the facts. Facts are important,” Groveman said.

“Where were all the family and friends who know Lloyd Smith so well when he lived on the site under these conditions?” he said.

Calabasas “has great compassion for the difficult circumstances in the Smith property code enforcement case,” the city said in a statement. “However, there is a municipal duty to protect public health and safety and to prevent violations of environmental laws.”

Full details of the case are available on the city’s website, www.cityofcalabasas.com.

Groveman, an environmental lawyer who co-wrote the California safe drinking water act, has led the city’s efforts to inspect about 140 septic tanks on the southern end of Calabasas and install a sewer extension in Old Topanga.

Residents fear the new sewer will lead to unwanted development in the rural mountain area.

But if water quality standards aren’t met, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board could fine the city up to $25,000 per day, Groveman said.

“We have a responsibility to all the citizens of Calabasas to make sure we’re not fined and residents are not going to be paying for violations we have not stopped,” the mayor said.

Property owner Cindy Smith said she wasn’t aware of the code violations on her parcel. In addition, she said she didn’t receive any notices from the city regarding inspections.

“The city never let us know there was an issue we needed to get fixed. They raided the property and gave us a ridiculously small amount of time to fix problems with no compassion whatsoever,” Smith said. “They’re treating us like criminals.”

At a recent Las Virgenes Municipal Water District meeting, Lewis and three other speakers urged district officials to restore water service to the Stokes Canyon property.

Jeff Reinhardt, spokesperson for the district, said water to the property was shut off on July 26, five days after the owners received the city’s warning.

“We’re waiting for a letter that would request service to the site for cleanup of the location and an acknowledgment that the site will not be occupied until the city approves it,” Reinhardt said.

The Smiths were one of the first customers of the water district in the early 1960s, Reinhardt said.