Resident challenges hearing officer ruling on North Harvard property permits

At a closed-session Hemet City Council meeting on April 8, 2025, registered speaker Judith McPherson urged the council to reconsider a hearing officer's written ruling that affirmed a building-permit extension for the owner of property at 118 North Harvard and adjacent parcels she identified as 122, 124 and 126 North Harvard.

McPherson said the hearing, which she said occurred in the same council chambers on a Monday in March at 10 a.m., produced a written ruling by hearing officer Jamar Boyd Weatherby that accepted the owner's claim that delays caused by COVID were "circumstances beyond his control." McPherson told the council, "I wanna just offer my contradiction right here," and said the city had provided assistance to the property owner that undercuts that claim.

"From June of 2021 ... community development director H.P. King scheduled weekly ... meetings on Wednesdays for a half an hour to an hour with every management position, resources. And that was to help this property owner," McPherson said, describing repeated city contact and assistance she said should weigh against a COVID-related delay finding.

McPherson also said the property owner was directed to demolish a wooden portion of a patio behind the building and that the hearing officer's ruling "affirmed that there was never any permit for that structure." She praised Building Official Javier Nolasco, saying, "I have to praise and and and thank building official Javier Nolasco for being alert and aware and very professional and skilled." McPherson added, "Evidently, there was more than a demo applied for," indicating other permit activity was in the record.

The remarks were offered during the meeting's public-comment period; the council did not take any formal action on the substance of McPherson's statements during the session. The hearing officer's written ruling McPherson referenced was mentioned in her comments; McPherson attributed observations about city assistance and permit history to her review of the record.

Separately, the council voted to allow Mayor Pro Tem Kendrick to participate remotely under Assembly Bill 2449. The motion, made by Council Member Croupe and seconded by Council Member Lodge, passed 4-0 with recorded votes in the affirmative from Council Member Croupe, Council Member Lodge, Council Member Mills and Mayor Peterson. During the remote-participation confirmations, Kendrick told the council she was traveling on "public agency business" and that no one over 18 was in the room with her.

No council member action on the North Harvard property or on the hearing officer's ruling was recorded in the meeting transcript. McPherson told the council she had provided documents to staff and indicated she intended the remarks as a formal challenge to the ruling and to the administrative handling of the permit history.