City works compromise with homeowner trying to remove protected oak tree

A resident seeking a compromise with the city about a large oak tree leaning significantly onto his property received just that during Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the La Cañada Flintridge City Council.

Eric Rustigan, who lives at 4843 Hampton Road, applied last year for a permit to remove his neighbor’s protected oak tree at 4847 Hampton Road. The Planning Commission denied the permit request in November and Rustigan appealed that decision to the City Council. The oak tree has a 36-inch trunk, is tall, in good health and, according to officials, represents low risk. However, Rustigan said the significant lean of the tree from his neighbor’s property onto his still potentially targets his home and presents a future safety hazard.

“This is a unique situation with my neighbor and myself,” Rustigan told the council during the appeal hearing. “My neighbor and I are both in agreement to remove the tree.”

An arborist’s report submitted with Rustigan’s application cited concerns about limbs breaking off and falling on his newly remodeled home, cars or his children who play in the driveway. Even though the oak tree was rated by the arborist as “low risk,” there is still a possibility of the tree falling. City staff conducted a site visit prior to the Planning Commission’s decision and found the tree to be healthy and strong enough to warrant denying its removal.

Rustigan said he undertook a remodel of the house after buying it in 2016.

“Doing my due diligence, I found that the tree sits above my chimney,” he said. “I’m beyond ‘tolerable levels’ with the fire department. The tree needs to be cut back 10 feet from the chimney.”

After the fire department inspected the tree, Rustigan said his insurance company took a look and found the tree poses risks and issues.

Flintridge Tree Care inspected the tree, suggesting that trimming it back 10% could be a compromise, but would also run the risk of killing the tree.

“As the trunk grows, I think it will become problematic,” said Mayor Pro Tem Terry Walker. “I’m concerned about the potential danger of it falling over and impeding into [Rustigan’s] roof.”

Councilman Jonathan Curtis said he also sees two city codes conflicting with each other in this issue. One supports trees in the city, especially oaks, for protection.

“We don’t want to see oaks removed if they don’t necessarily have to be,” he said. “We do have the code, either within 10 feet or something, where you’re not supposed to have combustible types of items, like trees.”

Mayor Michael T. Davitt noted Rustigan went through the correct process with the city in dealing with the oak tree now, while it is still standing. Sometimes others, Davitt said, will remove a tree prematurely over a weekend, which generates complaints to City Hall by those who object to the action.

Ultimately, the council unanimously sided with Rustigan by overturning the Planning Commission’s ruling. However, he will be required to plant two new oak trees in the frontyard and contribute $1,500 to the city’s tree fund.

Softball team honored

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, the council honored the La Cañada 14U softball team for completing its season with a 36-2 record, winning six tournament titles and capturing the Southern California B state championship from a field of 31 qualifying teams. The team batted .444, hit 22 home runs and scored 354 runs in 38 games, according to Davitt.

Public safety report

In his report to the council, Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Capt. Chris Blasnek said the department was that night knocking on doors and preparing to evacuate the Kagel Canyon burn area above Lakeview Terrace ahead of the impending rainstorm, which was expected to cause debris flow.

More locally, Blasnek advised the council that residential burglaries in La Cañada Flintridge dropped to four in February, from 14 in January. Two suspects from the Victorville area are currently in custody in connection with a residential burglary recently in the 700 block of Greenridge Drive, and LASD linked them to a residential burglary that occurred on Dec. 29 on Evening Canyon Drive.

Blasnek said he will supply an update on the city’s license plate readers during his April report to the council.

Mayor visits Washington, D.C.

Mayor Mike Davitt reported he recently returned from the National League of Cities trip in Washington, D.C. It was his second time going.

“There were some good general sessions,” he said. “There were some good focus groups on small city sessions. There were about 2,000 attendees. One main focus was infrastructure. I had a meeting with the League of California Cities. It was a really good couple of days. A West Hollywood city councilor was a speaker on a panel about the future of marijuana. People were lined up out the door.”

Tuesday night’s regular meeting was concluded in memory of Christopher Erskine, who died in a car accident earlier this month. He was son of La Cañada resident and Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Erskine and his wife, Cathy.

Joint study session

Prior to their regular Tuesday meeting, the council held a study session with members of the Planning Commission for a general look at various policies that might be in need of fine tuning.

Making their way through less than half the meeting’s agenda in the allotted hour, the council and commission discussed parking requirements in the commercial area and considered adding more flexibility to existing standards. In particular, it was noted that restaurants who want to open in town are sometimes hamstrung by rules that call for more parking places than can possibly be made available. Also discussed were the rules governing minimum driveway widths in the commercial district.

As it has been several years since the last parking survey was done in the city, the council was in agreement that they may want to look at finding funds for an up-to-date survey during their next budget hearings before refining existing rules.

The joint meeting, in which the two bodies are expected to review some of the city’s residential building standards, will be continued at a later date.

Matt Sanderson is a contributing writer to Times Community News. Carol Cormaci contributed to this report.