A father and son have accused the city of criminal extortion, saying that because they wouldn’t sell a piece of land to the city, they’ve been denied water service to all of their Santa Susana Knolls properties.

Henry and Arnout van den Berg own six parcels on or near Crown Hill Drive in the Knolls, including one property on which the city would like to build a 1-million-gallon water tank.

“I’ve been involved in home construction for over 35 years and I’ve never seen a more blatant misuse of public power,” Henry told the City Council during its Oct. 26 meeting.

According to the van den Bergs, the city made a low-ball offer for their property, which they turned down, and their water service was subsequently withdrawn.

“This is a clear case of criminal extortion, pressuring us to sell our property by withholding water service,” Arnout said.

Since February 2008, there’s been a moratorium on new requests for water service in the Knolls because the supply there is insufficient for even its current demands, falling short of domestic, emergency and fire storage requirements.

As a short-term solution, the city is constructing Alta Vista Water Tank No. 2, a 126,000-gallon tank that will sit adjacent to an existing, equal-sized tank.

To solve the area’s water shortage for the long term, the city has been attempting to secure the van den Berg property, which is at a higher elevation, to build a 1-million-gallon tank.

When the city first approached the van den Bergs about purchasing the property in January 2008, Arnout said, they weren’t interested in selling since they’d bought the land to develop it. The West Hills resident contends that then-director of public works Tim Nanson told them, “If you don’t sell the property, we won’t give you water for any of your lots there and they will all be worthless.”

In response, the van den Bergs provided the city with their reports and plans and went through the process of seeing how much the land was worth.

But each side had very different ideas regarding the value of the property.

Arnout said the waterworks district appraised the land, which is under 1 acre in size, at $150,000. Shocked by that figure, the van den Bergs had their own appraisal done, which valued the land at $596,000.

“We’ve already spent a lot of money on improving it,” he said, noting that the improvements are the same ones the city would have had to make. “We bought (the land) to develop . . . but if the only way to move forward is to sell it, if it is at some reasonable market value, we’d probably go with it.”

Of the van den Bergs’ six properties, one on Crown Hill Drive has been eligible for water service since September 2007, before the moratorium went into effect, Arnout said. However, construction on Arnout’s family home on that property came to a halt this past September when the city said it could no longer provide water to the property’s fire flow tanks.

Arnout said that prior to the moratorium, he and his father were told it would be no problem getting water service to their properties to develop them. But all that has changed.

“When we started this earlier, you said there was enough water, that everything was fine, and now in the middle of construction you’re saying you don’t have enough water,” Arnout told the City Council. “That seems very unfair.”

What’s more, Arnout is upset that the city has said their properties won’t be able to receive water even after the completion of Alta Vista Tank No. 2, scheduled for the end of February, because of the difference in elevation.

Joe Deakin, assistant director of public works, said it’s a matter of gravity, not extortion.

“Even if we had oodles of storage downstream of them,” he said, “we couldn’t serve them because water simply doesn’t flow uphill.”

Arnout said the solution the waterworks district recommended— building a $400,000 pressure booster pumps facility—would be far too costly and become obsolete once the 1-million-gallon tank was completed.

City Manager Mike Sedell said the city is taking the van den Bergs’ claims seriously and has forwarded their complaint to the Ventura County District Attorney’s office.

“Any time there’s an allegation to the city of criminal conduct, which their letter clearly said, our policy is to immediately forward that to the district attorney for a full and impartial investigation.”

But although he’s aware of their frustration in getting water services to their properties, Sedell said it doesn’t necessarily mean anything illegal has happened.

The city’s real estate negotiations are conducted confidentially, he said, and are guided by an appraisal by a fair and independent party. While the goal is a price that’s acceptable to all parties, he added, the city tries to get the best deal with the public’s tax dollars.

Sedell said the city is looking for other viable properties for the 1-million-gallon tank. If none are found, the city would have to consider its legal options, such as the use of eminent domain.

However, he stressed that the council is “abhorrent” to taking someone else’s property and that there would have to be a very strong public or safety need.