Builder May Have to Replant More Trees

In a controversial issue that has nagged county officials for months, Fallbrook home developer Richard Blakeslee was told Friday that he should plant 252 oak trees--including 84 that have six-inch-diameter trunks--to replace the coastal live oaks he tore down to make room for a 25-home subdivision alongside the Pala Mesa Golf Resort.

The decision by the San Diego County Planning Commission is expected to be formally adopted Nov. 16--and Blakeslee said he will make a last-ditch effort to get the size of the replacement trees reduced.

The new trees--including the 84 with 6-inch trunks, 84 in 36-inch-square boxes, and 84 in 24-inch boxes--are estimated to cost about $240,000 by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy. That was about the value of the oak trees--including some that were more than 100 years old--that Blakeslee cleared off the property to make room for his homes, the conservancy estimated.

The eight-acre parcel was once the site of more than 100 oak trees, and the county Board of Supervisors in 1979 ordered that the then-developer not take out more than 10 to make room for homes. But through an apparent clerical error, that condition mysteriously disappeared in 1980, and when Blakeslee took control of the property last year, he said he assumed he was free to remove as many trees as he needed in order to grade the land.

Blakeslee said he removed 38 oaks, but neighbors say nearly 100 trees have been ripped off the site.

Planning Commission chairwoman Lynn Leichtfuss said the 252 replacement trees “were a fair compromise, to give back to the community a portion of what they had lost. This was not intended to be punitive.”

But Blakeslee said he felt betrayed by having previously accepted a compromise in which he was to plant 30 oaks in 36-inch boxes, 30 oaks in 24-inch boxes and 150 one-gallon trees. He said the smaller trees had a better chance of ultimate survival, saying he was concerned the trees might drown because of the watering regimen for the balance of his landscaping plans.

But the Fallbrook Community Planning Group and the Fallbrook Land Conservancy appealed the staff recommendation, arguing that he should put in larger trees to replace the ones he took out, and the planning commission agreed.

“I’m exceedingly frustrated,” Blakeslee said. “The commission isn’t paying any attention to what my attorney is telling them, which is that, based on the advice from our arborist, the larger trees have a negligible chance for survival.”

He said if the planning commission ultimately adopts the new formula, he has no appeal to the board of supervisors.