Tree removal sprouts controversy

Mary A. Castillo

When Ann Christoph and her neighbors watched a 30-year-old Eucalyptus

be cut down last week, they were once again outraged that, in their eyes,

the city had failed to protect their trees.

For more than seven years, the South Laguna Civic Assn. has fought to

add distinctive or historically significant trees to the city’s Heritage

Tree list as well as to galvanize the city to set aside funds to plant

and maintain new trees in the community, said Christoph, a board member

of the association.

“It’s very depressing to see a tree grow for 20 years and suddenly

it’s gone,” she said.

She pointed to another case where a tree was cut down, even though it

was No. 77 on the list of heritage trees in the South Laguna Specific

Plan.

Mayor Wayne Baglin, who responded to concerns in a letter addressed to

association member Cindy Love, wrote that the tree in question had been

located in the Cal Trans right-of-way. Therefore Cal Trans had the

authority to take it down because the agency considered it a public

hazard.

Even more controversy surrounds last week’s removal of the Eucalyptus,

which stood on public right-of-way on Sea Bluff Lane.

Christoph and other civic association members believe they nearly

saved it.

Initially, Christoph appealed to Joseph Baker, who had hired a private

company to cut the tree down. Baker agreed to wait while City

Councilwoman Toni Iseman attempted to schedule a meeting with the city

manger to discuss an alternative solution to the problem.

But, Christoph said, Baker received a call from the city manager’s

office to go ahead with his plans to cut down the tree.

“Dr. Baker went through quite a bit trouble to pursue the matter of

the tree in a very conscientious manner,” Christoph said. “But when

people call the city to take care of a tree, they’re told to handle it

themselves.”

The result is that many trees are simply cut down rather than

maintained, Christoph said.

“There is only one tree in South Laguna that is maintained by the

city,” she said. “But hundreds of trees are maintained in downtown and

North Laguna.”

Before South Laguna was annexed by the city in 1987, the county maintained a number of the community’s trees.

And there lies much of the problem, said City Councilman Paul Freeman.

One of the reasons why the issue of trees in South Laguna is so

clouded is due the legacy of bad record-keeping on behalf of the county,

he said.

Plus, because many of the streets in the area are privately owned, the

city does not have the legal reach to maintain trees in those areas, he

added.

“It’s hard to look at the taxpayer and say we’re not fixing the sewers

as fast as you want but we’re maintaining privately owned trees,” he

said.

To address Christoph and others’ concerns, Freeman has proposed using

$75,000 from the increased parking meter fees over a three-year period to

plant and maintain new trees in South Laguna. At Tuesday’s city council

meeting, the council decided to review the proposal further and take

formal action at next Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’m fairly confident we will garner majority support of the parking

meter fund allocation,” he said.

The city also has funds set aside to retain a landscape architect for

sidewalk and street improvements, said City Manager Ken Frank. He

estimated it would be another six to nine months before the Design Review

Board would see a plan.

If that plan is approved, there would be new tree plantings as well as

improvements to public sidewalks and streets, he said.

And those new trees would then be maintained by the city, Frank

confirmed.

But a question still remains: Will the city recognize the heritage

tree list that inventories up to 150 trees in South Laguna?

“Taking over existing trees in South Laguna is a whole separate issue

that the council has not yet wrestled with,” Frank said.

He stressed that South Laguna has not been singled out. Trees in the

neighborhoods of Mystic Hills, Temple Hills and Top of the World are not

maintained by the city even though they may stand in the public

right-of-way.

The heart of the debate is whether the Laguna Specific Plan’s Heritage

Tree list meets the criteria outlined in the heritage tree municipal

code.

“Those trees do not meet city requirements,” Frank said.

Many of the trees are planted privately and the owners have not

applied to include their tree in the city heritage tree list, he added.

As for the trees on city public-right-of-way, no one has taken the

steps outlined in the municipal code that had been adopted in 1998.

Christoph argues that the area’s heritage list that was incorporated

into city plans in 1989 is valid.

If so, the tree that was cut down by Cal Trans was protected by the

municipal code that governs the removal, destruction or alteration of

heritage trees, she said.

Regardless, Christoph added, as long as the trees remain vulnerable,

she and the civic association will continue to protect them.