Code Violations Briefly Close Haunted House : Halloween: Creators of neighborhood attraction comply with officials by taking down the maze in driveway, reducing noise and dropping admission fees.

WOODLAND HILLS — Despite getting some heat from building and safety officials and being forced to dismantle a harrowing maze, Bob Koritzke and Dave Rector are still serving up Halloween scares for their Woodland Hills neighbors--at least for now.

The haunted house created by the two childhood friends was closed briefly twice this weekend when residents’ complaints about loud crowds prompted authorities to cite the two men for zoning and fire code violations.

The pair’s sixth annual haunted house, called “Spooky House” and located in the 23800 block of Friar Street, reopened Sunday evening after Rector, 30, and Koritzke, 31, complied by taking down the maze in their driveway, reducing the noise and eliminating an admission fee.

Created at a cost of more than $6,000, the haunted house consists of a simulated graveyard in the front yard and other frightful scenes inside the house’s garage, said Battalion Chief Timothy Manning of the Los Angeles Fire Department, who paid a visit Friday night.

Rector and Koritzke, who said they paid for the haunted house out of their own pockets, had been taking 10 to 15 youngsters at a time through the spooky front yard and garage, Manning said, at a cost of $2 per child and $3 per adult.

“On Friday we issued the owner a notice that they were in violation of the fire code,” Manning said. He said the notice basically told the pair to get a permit for public occupancy and they voluntarily closed down.

“When he opened his home up to the public, he needed to get a permit to make sure that the public is safe when they go there,” Manning said of Koritzke.

On Saturday, after the pair had made changes, city building and safety inspectors showed up at the reopened haunted house and issued a citation for zoning violations, effectively closing the operation again, Manning said.

Rector said building officials told them it was illegal to charge patrons to enter the haunted house. So they stopped charging fees. Next year, the pair said, they plan to move to a commercial site.

Last Halloween, they invited the public through newspaper ads and drew about 5,000 people over five or six days, Rector said. This year, a telephone number for the house has a recorded invitation.

Neighbor Margo Durcan brought her four grandchildren to the house Sunday. Despite feeling that the men should only be allowed to make back their investment, Durcan still liked the idea of a neighborhood place for kids during the Halloween season.

“It’s one of the few safe things that kids can do nowadays,” she said.