Newhall Development : County Orders Project Changed to Save Oaks

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Thursday ordered a developer to redesign a Newhall housing project so that three heritage oak trees will be spared.

But the action hardly satisfied a group of area residents and oak tree preservationists, who complained at a hearing that 334 other, smaller oaks would be removed for the 101-home hillside project.

Supervisors asked the builder, Leisure Technology Inc., to submit on May 7 new plans for its project on Calgrove Boulevard east of the Golden State Freeway. The three heritage oaks are distinguished from the other trees only by their size--they must be at least 36 inches in diameter at a point 4 1/2 feet above ground level--but are given special protection under the county’s oak tree ordinance.

The hearing attracted about 100 Santa Clarita Valley residents and other oak tree preservationists, who protested the removal of any trees. Ken Buchan, a leader of the group, presented supervisors with petitions containing 1,400 signatures opposing the development.

‘Move Mountains’

‘Why must they cut down these beautiful trees and literally move mountains to build houses?” asked Buchan, who lives across the street from the proposed housing tract.

Helen Treend of the Oak Tree Coalition said the intent of the county’s oak tree ordinance was “one of preservation, not of destruction.” Last year, she said, county officials allowed the removal of at least 1,000 oak trees in approving housing tracts.

Treend complained that the county ordinance, which requires developers to replace two trees for every oak uprooted, is inadequate because the replacements--15-gallon specimen-size trees--are “nothing more than sticks” that usually die quickly.

Dorothy Wride of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society said many of the 337 oaks are hundreds of years old and, there fore, historically significant.

But Doug Kitchen, a Leisure Technology representative, said his firm has reduced the size of its project from 119 to 101 units because of residents’ concerns about the oak trees.

“We saved as much of the hillside as possible,” he said.

The development can be redesigned to retain the three heritage oaks, Kitchen said. But, he added, “I can’t guarantee they’d be saved. I believe they’d ultimately die.”

Robert Sims, the firm’s engineer, said the developer will plant four trees for each oak removed, provide larger replacement trees than required and hire an expert to maintain them for at least two years.

Right to Build

Supervisor Ed Edelman told residents that, unless they can buy the 26-acre parcel, the developer has the right to build on his land.

“The right to build is not the right to destory,” replied Sally Clark of Canyon Country.

The protesters seemed at least a bit pleased, however, that the supervisors had put off a decision on the development.

“I am surprised,” Buchan said. “I thought they’d just listen to us and then go ahead and approve the project.”

“It’s a small step forward, a very small step,” preservationist Jeannette Sharer said of the supervisors’ action.