‘Misunderstanding’ Is Blamed : Lot’s Owner Denies Ordering Oaks Cut

The owner of the vacant lot in Thousand Oaks where a cluster of oaks allegedly was cut down illegally said Tuesday that the incident stemmed from a “misunderstanding” between him and a garbage-removal service.

Houshang Beroukhim of Beverly Hills said he believes that there were only four oaks on his half-acre lot, which he has owned for seven years. But Thousand Oaks city officials said the lot contained 27 oaks, ranging in trunk diameter from 4 to 24 inches, which were cut down or pruned to the trunk last week without a city permit.

City officials said they are considering prosecuting those responsible under a 15-year-old city ordinance requiring permits before oaks may be chopped down or radically pruned. The ordinance carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine for each violation.

Beroukhim, a real estate investor, said he hires a company every year to clear car parts, abandoned furniture and other refuse dumped on the commercially zoned Thousand Oaks property.

Beroukhim said he did not order the oaks cut. “No, no. I didn’t have to cut the oak trees,” he said. “There is no reason for me to cut. Apparently, it was a misunderstanding.”

According to Don LaVoie, a senior code enforcement officer for Thousand Oaks, Beroukhim told city officials that a Van Nuys company did the work. LaVoie said city officials have been unable to reach the company. Officials also want to talk to a person whose truck was parked on the property Thursday, he said.

“We are very serious about our oak tree ordinance,” LaVoie said, calling the trees “our namesake.”

LaVoie said the city has received no development proposal for the land. If a proposal had been submitted, he said, officials probably would have ordered that at least half the 27 trees be saved.

The half-acre lot lies between Dusenberg Drive and Los Robles Road, about 500 feet south of Thousand Oaks Boulevard.