Preservationists Lose Battle to Save 310 Oaks in Newhall

Los Angeles County supervisors on Thursday approved a developer’s plan to uproot 310 oaks to make way for a Newhall housing project, dealing a defeat to environmentalists who fought for more than a year to save the trees.

However, the developer, Leisure Technology Inc. of Los Angeles, made some concessions to oak preservationists, as the Board of Supervisors had requested at a March 12 public hearing.

Among other compromises, the company reduced the number of housing units in its proposed development on Calgrove Avenue near the Golden State Freeway from 102 to 94 in order to save 27 trees.

Included in the 27 that will remain are six of seven heritage oaks the developer originally proposed to remove. Under county law, a heritage oak is a tree that is at least 36 inches in diameter at a point 4 1/2 feet above the ground.

Engineer Bob Sims, representing the developer, said it would be impossible to save the remaining heritage oaks because doing so would be a traffic hazard. “We tried several configurations but the tree was always in the way,” he said.

Sims said the developer also has agreed to conform to a stricter county ordinance governing removal of oaks, which is now under consideration for the Santa Clarita Valley, even if the ordinance is not enacted. The ordinance would require developers to replace each oak removed with four young trees, maintain the trees and hire an expert to monitor the growth of replacement oaks for two years.

Board Chairman Mike Antonovich, who represents the area, moved to approve the project. He said the density of oaks on the site “makes it a special property warranting special treatment.” But he moved that, as a condition for the project’s approval, the developer be required to adhere to the proposed ordinance.

Antonovich asked that the Regional Planning Commission review the stronger ordinance proposed by the Santa Clarita Valley Planning Advisory Council “as soon as possible.”

Ken Buchan, a fireman who led the fight against the trees’ removal, appeared almost resigned to defeat when he rose to make a short statement to the board. “Other alternatives could have been explored,” he said.

“I expected it,” Buchan said of the board’s decision. “We got some very minimal concessions. I had hoped to get cooperation from the county to at least build a mini-park.”

Buchan gathered more than 3,700 signatures on petitions opposing the trees’ removal during his crusade to save the oaks.