Warner Center : Fate of Ash Trees Left to Residents

State transportation engineers who four months ago chopped down shade trees that form the gateway to Warner Center pledged Thursday night to put away their axes--provided that homeowners promise to care for the remaining trees.

But if residents do not keep the trees bordering busy Topanga Canyon Boulevard trimmed and prevent their roots from destroying sidewalks, another 25 stately ash trees will be removed soon, officials warned.

“Give us some time,” pleaded Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. “You want to remove the amenities that make this area livable. You want to turn this into a moonscape.”

The homeowners said they will have to meet and determine whether they and local business groups are capable of assuming responsibility for the trees.

State officials, who know Topanga Canyon Boulevard as California 27, took over maintenance of the roadway and adjoining sidewalks from the city of Los Angeles about two years ago.

Senior Caltrans maintenance engineer James L. McCullough said that 25 trees on the east side of the boulevard between Oxnard Street and Victory Boulevard have damaged the sidewalk, creating a pedestrian safety liability that the state is unwilling to risk.

“Caltrans would not plan on coming in and trimming the trees and replacing the sidewalk on a regular basis,” he told half a dozen homeowners at a meeting in Woodland Hills Park.

McCullough agreed to delay the removal of the trees after Elaine Miller, an aide to State Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), called for a compromise with the residents.

Caltrans officials called the meeting to prevent more of the protests that occurred in May when Caltrans workers cut down 25 ash trees next to the boulevard south of Warner Park.

Caltrans workers said those trees were ordered chopped down because one root from one of the trees was lifting a section of sidewalk near Burbank Boulevard. They said other trees were threatening to cause similar damage.

But the May 10 cutting angered residents of a nearby 106-unit condominium complex. They said they had relied on the trees for privacy and as a shield against traffic noise. A few days later, Caltrans officials met with homeowners to apologize and pledge that future tree-removal projects would be preceded by public notification.

Caltrans also agreed to allow planting of replacement trees to be donated by a nursery, provided the details could be worked out between the condominium owners and the state. That agreement is still being negotiated.

McCullough, who ordered the removal, promised that homeowners would be given a chance to save trees from the ax. But McCullough stressed that other trees growing beside the sidewalk along the boulevard were in jeopardy because they pose a potential hazard to pedestrians and motorists.

That warning was taken to heart by owners of the Promenade Mall shopping center, which has 20 of the ash trees growing along its Topanga Canyon Boulevard frontage. A month later, the shopping center hired tree trimmers to prune each of the trees and to remove three that had broken through the sidewalk.

“We spent $10,000 in pruning and concrete work,” said Marcy Young, mall operations manager. “We wanted to cooperate with Caltrans and the community, too.”

The pruning removed low branches that had occasionally interfered with tall trucks traveling north on the boulevard.

Ironically, Caltrans’ call for continued chopping came less than a month after Los Angeles city officials ordered the preservation of 10 huge cedar trees lining Shoup Avenue, two blocks from the Promenade Mall.

City Councilwoman Joy Picus instructed builder Geoff Palmer to transplant the 75-year-old trees, which stand in the way of street widening and sidewalk construction for a 760-unit condominium development he is building.

The preservation effort will cost Palmer about $100,000. He is also being required to plant trees in the yards of nearby homeowners whose property is overlooked by building pads that Palmer has graded for his project.

Pruning of the cedars will begin Monday, causing the partial closure of Shoup Avenue through Sept. 23, city officials have announced. The actual transplanting of the first five trees will take place Oct. 25 and 26.