The program participants at San Luis Obispo’s Sunny Acres sober living community are preparing for a new dawn.
Embattled for years with issues of overcrowding, unpermitted septic and power systems, and alleged mistreatment at the hands of program founder Dan DeVaul, site residents are waiting for such problems to be fixed by a court-appointed receiver. As of June 7, the SLO County Superior Court ordered the California Receivership Group to take over Sunny Acres and formulate a plan with county officials to fix its laundry list of code violations.
“Dan’s attorney tried telling the judge that the receivership should only be against Sunny Acres, not Dan,” said Sunny Acres manager David Dieter on June 20. “Dan’s trying to push all his problems on us. We’re not the cause of the problems … he was hiding behind Sunny Acres to do the things he was doing.”
The 72-acre Los Osos Valley Road property is divided into the Sunny Acres program and DeVaul’s personal living quarters. A little more than a decade ago, he had to pay $100,000 to another court-appointed receiver, David Pasternak, who oversaw the code compliance process while a group of Cal Poly students cleared up some of the mess on the property. The court also slapped a permanent injunction on DeVaul in 2013 that banned him from allowing people to live in unpermitted structures like garden sheds and tents on the property.
Yet, county officials had to step in again. A search warrant allowed them to inspect the property in June 2021. That visit unearthed a return to the past: People were continuing to live in unauthorized structures; unpermitted electrical, plumbing, and septic improvements dotted the land; the amount of outdoor storage had ballooned significantly since 2013; and approximately 150,000 cubic yards of unpermitted grading and debris occupied a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-designated flood hazard area.
Major changes have taken place since the county issued a notice of violation in July 2021 based on that property search. For one, DeVaul also faces a labor lawsuit filed by some program participants who allege improper pay of various kinds. Last year, he transferred power of attorney to one-time SLO mayoral candidate Cherisse Sweeney.
A bout of COVID-19 then made 79-year-old DeVaul leave the ranch he was born and raised on. Dieter told New Times that ill health compelled DeVaul to move to Virginia where he now lives with his son. He added that in the time that DeVaul’s been away, Sweeney has been trying to enact plans on his behalf.
“She’s been talking with people who were trying to buy the property,” Dieter said. “Dan doesn’t want us running this program.”
One of the groups Sweeney is aiming to work with on the Sunny Acres property, he said, is social justice nonprofit Restorative Partners.
“They’re really good but Cherisse Sweeney was trying to set it up [in a way] that Restorative Partners took over our program,” Dieter said. “Well, I’m not going to let that happen. If Restorative Partners would like to partner with us, then I’m willing to listen.”
Sweeney didn’t respond to New Times‘ requests for comment.
Assistant County Counsel Jon Ansolabehere told New Times that Sweeney’s power of attorney isn’t all-encompassing.
“Part of that power of attorney requires to get approval from Dan’s son James DeVaul,” he said. “I’ve heard that James has power of attorney over Dan as well.”
Ansolabehere belongs to the county’s legal team headed by County Counsel Rita Neal that’s been negotiating with DeVaul attorney Matt Janowicz on the receiver appointment and subsequent cleanup process.
He added that attorney Mark Adams, who leads the California Receivership Group, has a proven track record of bringing properties up to the mark in the seven instances his receivership team has worked in SLO County. Adams’ most recent receivership appointment was the 50 Prado property—the 2.2-acre makeshift junkyard owned by SLO resident William Sievers that shares a property line with the 40 Prado Homeless Center.
Ansolabehere said he recommended Adams because he has a knowledgeable staff that can deal with complicated health and safety situations.
“My first case in Arroyo Grande, I used [Adams],” Ansolabehere said. “It was an elderly World War II veteran, and it was a really, really bad hoarding incident. [Adams] had his professional organizer come in … and we were able to salvage [the veteran’s] war memorabilia and were able to do some nice things for him that way.”
After the June 7 hearing, the receiver gave DeVaul 30 days to collect and remove his private belongings from the land. California Receivership Group’s project manager Pierce Harper also toured the Sunny Acres property with Dieter to scope out the areas that need fixing and cleaning.
“[Harper] is also meeting with Restorative Partners to provide services to [Sunny Acres] tenants and see how we can accomplish that,” Ansolabehere said.
Now, both the county and DeVaul’s team are preparing to meet in mid-July and make a plan for fixing the code violations. Judge Rita Federman granted an initial fund of $50,000 for the cleanup until that blueprint is finalized.
By way of appointment, the California Receivership Group stepped in after two potential buyers of the Sunny Acres property walked away because of DeVaul’s “outrageous” asking price, according to Dieter. Ambitious renovation projects now loom over the receiver’s horizon.
“Two of the biggest things that [DeVaul] has to fix: He’s supposed to supply us with a new well with a water treatment center on it, so that we have good drinking water,” Dieter said. “[And] all the electricals have to be upgraded and permitted for almost the whole ranch.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 9, 2023.
Weird, David is omitting some key info here. There is a new well with clean water available, ask “Sunny Acres” why they dont have access, bet they won’t tell you or they’ll just blame Dan for their own incompetence. Dan’s personal property has been off the ranch for roughly a year, it’s the rvs and sheds that Sunny Acres refuses to vacate and threatened legal action against Dan if he tried to move them that are the issue. Happy to see them leave soon along with the squatters that are “Sunny Acres.” The county has had ample opportunity to help Dan remove the vagrants but refuse since they have insufficient resources to deal with them.