Nursery Is Offering Safe Arbor : Caltrans Sifts Plan to Replace 25 Trees Felled in Warner Center

A Woodland Hills nursery owner came to the rescue Friday of state transportation officials who chopped down 25 shade trees lining the entrance to Warner Center.

John Boething, a longtime tree-lot operator, said he will donate 25 trees to replace those removed by state Department of Transportation workers along Topanga Canyon Boulevard north of the Ventura Freeway.

State officials sparked a community uproar by removing the 15-year-old ash trees last week. Officials said the trees’ roots were damaging the sidewalk, which could be dangerous to pedestrians. But they acknowledged that only one root was actually lifting the concrete walkway.

Officials said they did not plan to replace the trees because their policy is to remove those that cause traffic or safety hazards along state highways. Topanga Canyon Boulevard is designated as state Highway 27.

Angry Woodland Hills homeowners complained that the trees had served as a green and graceful entryway to Warner Center. They said the trees could have been pruned to prevent damage to the sidewalk.

Caltrans Admits Mistake

In a showdown meeting Wednesday night with residents, Caltrans officials admitted that they made a mistake by removing the trees without notice. They pledged that, in the future, they will give nearby property owners a chance to maintain endangered trees and preserve them.

James L. McCullough, senior maintenance engineer, said Caltrans would permit trees to be planted along Topanga Canyon Boulevard if a nearby condominium association would agree to maintain them.

McCullough warned that Caltrans did not have money to pay for the replanting, however.

Boething’s offer came as Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) met Friday morning with Caltrans director Robert Best to ask for special funding for the tree planting.

Kristian Vosburgh, administrative assistant to La Follette, said Boething’s donation will resolve that issue. “Now it’s just a matter of working out a maintenance agreement,” Vosburgh said.

Steps to Speed Agreement

Aides said Friday that Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus will take steps to expedite such an agreement between the state and leaders of the condominium association, the Woods at Warner Village Phase IV.

“We’ll work to see that an agreement is signed,” said Susan Pasternak, a Picus spokeswoman.

The Woods at Warner Village association probably will approve a maintenance pact because the trees served as a noise and privacy buffer for many of the 106 townhouses, according to Jaime Gonzalez-Duke, who represented the residential group at Wednesday’s meeting.

Dick Anderson, a spokesman for Boething’s Treeland Co., said it will be up to Caltrans and the homeowners group to decide on the type of trees to be donated. He said the replacements probably will be 10 or 12 feet tall.

Treeland has more than 1 million trees under cultivation at sites in California, Anderson said.