GRAND TERRACE - A proposal to place additional limits on Swertfeger's Equipment died this week when a letter indicated that accepting it could lead to a lawsuit from the group of residents who motivated the changes.

The Planning Commission dropped the suggested requirements for the trailer sale and repair shop without opening the matter for public comment, which angered many neighbors.

"It's just disgusting what they're doing," said Laura Austin, who for years has called the city with allegations of Swertfeger's noise and traffic violations. "They promised us that meeting (Thursday), then they canceled it because they didn't want to have to read attorney's papers and things."

City Attorney John Harper said he believed a 300-plus-page letter received less than two hours before the meeting suggested legal action against Grand Terrace would be next. Previously, Harper had estimated that the city's successful defenses against lawsuits concerning Swertfeger's had cost the city $76,000.

The item was intended to clarify landscaping, parking and noise requirements for the business that came out of a workshop in September. Residents say they have unsuccessfully complained about the Swertfeger's, which is located in a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood on Michigan Avenue, for 11 years.

Commissioners say site inspections found those those complaints to be baseless.

"In my time on the commission, the facts that they bring up misread," Commissioner Tom Comstock, who lives a block from the shop, said by phone.

Austin said studies were done during times of abnormally low activity and that the city ignored parking and other complaints.

Stacey West, the owner's daughter and secretary of the corporation, said the company protected the property because of its area roots.

"(My family) lived here since the 1940s," she said. "We were here with the avocado trees and the orange groves, and we've seen it change."

ryan.hagen@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-386-3916