ORINDA — The homeowner of a Frank Lloyd Wright estate defended holding weddings on the property, saying there have been “no citations for illegal parking, no DUIs, no fights, no loud quarrels, no excessive noise citations” and calling neighbors’ complaints “baseless.”
“In fact, (there have been) no citations whatsoever for anything from the police,” Gerald Shmavonian said in an interview. He added there have been no traffic accidents and no injuries on the site. “Ninety percent of the people take Uber.”
“It’s true that there has been no criminal activity,” said Orinda Planning Director Drummond Buckley. But the Orinda official said Shmavonian was still in violation of the city’s zoning ordinance. Orinda bans commercial ventures in residential neighborhoods.
Shmavonian also said he is seeking the $30,000 tax break through a state law called the Mills Act that Orinda denied him in 2015.
“I’m on the defensive here,” said Shmavonian, who called himself “an aggrieved bad boy in Orinda.”
The contentious issue with the Maynard Buehler house, built in the late 1940s by Frank Lloyd Wright, has centered on weddings that have been hosted by Shmavonian, which he began to hold after a 2016 Vogue magazine article mentioned the estate on its short list of unique, unforgettable wedding venues.
Shmavonian insisted he had nothing to do with the Vogue article.
“I’m just someone who grew up in Fresno,” said Shmavonian, a Central Valley native. “I don’t know the writer. I didn’t even hold weddings at that time. I don’t know (Vogue Editor-in-Chief) Anna Wintour.”
However, after the article appeared, Shmavonian began holding weddings on the property — and started drawing the ire of neighbors and nearby residents. They have flooded the city with emails, affidavits, photos, videos and screenshots to back up their complaints about loud speeches from wedding parties, loud music lasting up to 10 p.m., catering trucks, port-a-potties on streets, and people parking in driveways and on lawns.
He also caught the attention of the city of Orinda, which said the weddings violated the city’s zoning ordinance. Orinda has issued citations of up to $1,000 each since Sept. 1, 2017, against Shmavonian for the eight weddings it knew about.
In addition, Orinda plans to cite Shmavonian for a wedding held Sept. 2, Buckley said. To date, Shmavonian has paid $1,750 in citations, according to Buckley.
“Orinda’s whole complaint-driven process is a sham because it violates due process,” Shmavonian said in an email.
Buckley also said the city is analyzing decibel levels of the Sept. 2 event to see if it violated the city’s noise ordinance that could lead to additional fines. Buckley said the city does respond to complaints, and it also decides whether complaints are valid and if an event violated city ordinances.
As a general law city, Orinda is limited to setting maximum finds for ordinance violations in the range of $250 to $1,000, Buckley said.
In 1948, iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house for inventor Maynard Buehler and his wife, Katherine Buehler of Orinda. In 2006, the estate was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. After the Buehlers died, the estate was put up for sale. In 2013, Shmavonian bought the estate for $3.3 million.
“The only reason I ended up with the house was because I was helping a friend buy a house in Lafayette,” Shmavonian said. “I looked up the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Orinda, which was up for sale. I just wanted to see the house. When I saw it, I fell in love with it.”
In addition to Orinda’s ordinances, the estate also is subject to an easement set up by the Buehlers and held by the nonprofit Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in Chicago. Under the easement’s terms, the homeowner is required to open the estate to public events four to 10 days a year.
In 2015, Shmavonian sought a $30,000 annual tax break under the Mills Act.
The Mills Act was enacted in 1972 by the state to enable local jurisdictions “to enter into contracts with property owners of qualified historic properties who actively participate in the restoration and maintenance of their historic properties while receiving property tax relief.”
In a 2015 East Bay Times article, Shmavonian said maintenance of the property runs into the “tens of thousands” each year.
Each local government establishes its own criteria for Mills Act contracts, according to the state Office of Historic Preservation. Orinda has yet to enter into a Mills Act contract since incorporating in 1985. It has not established its own guidelines.
At its April 21, 2015, meeting, the Orinda City Council rejected the request that would have reduced property taxes on the 4,350-square-foot home from $38,000 to $8,100 per year. Council members were concerned about the total tax revenue loss — $300,000 over the 10-year deal — to the city, the county, Orinda schools, the Moraga-Orinda Fire District and the state.
State Sen. Steve Glazer, who was Orinda mayor at the time, said at that meeting that “many of the elements of the Mills Act are being fulfilled by the current easement on the property” and questioned what other elements would justify the proposed tax benefit.
Then-Vice Mayor Victoria Smith, at the same meeting, said she wouldn’t support allowing a Mills Act contract for the estate because she felt that there would be no public benefit.
Shmavonian contends the estate fulfilled the criteria for a Mills Act contract. He pointed out that the estate is in the National Register of Historic Places, and also designated as an Orinda historical landmark. He also contends he had the support of both the Orinda City Council and the Orinda Planning Commission in 2015. But city officials, including Buckley, dispute the city’s support.
“The Mills Act is clear and determinative,” Shmavonian said in an email. “There is no exception nor exemption for if the owner of the property happens to be wealthy or has a conservation easement, then the city doesn’t have to grant it. That’s why it’s called the tax break for millionaires act. By flouting the act, the city is flouting the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution wherein an act of Congress such as the Americans with Disabilities Act carries the same weight over states as a state act such as the Mills Act does over cities.
“The city of Orinda has no justification whatsoever for denying the Frank Lloyd Wright Buehler house protection under the Mills Act,” Shmavonian said in an earlier email.
“If they (Orinda City Council) want to flout state law, I’ll flout city law,” Shmavonian said earlier during the interview. “They (Orinda city officials) need to make the overture (to me). I’m not a masochist.”
Buckley said the historic landmark designation has nothing to do with Orinda deciding on whether to enter a Mills Act contract with Shmavonian.
Buckley said Orinda has no intention of revisiting its 2015 rejection of the Mills Act tax break.
