City Accepts $150,000 Settlement for Bulldozed Trees

After almost two years of negotiations, Thousand Oaks has agreed to accept $150,000 from a developer who bulldozed 104 eucalyptus trees in what officials have called the city’s worst case of tree destruction.

The penalty against Orange County-based Davis Developments is the largest that the city has issued for destroying trees and will preclude a lawsuit by the city against the developer, City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said Thursday.

“They knew those trees were important and a key element to the development of that property,” he said. “In an effort to circumvent that, they took the trees down.”

Davis Developments had agreed to repay the $150,000 to the city more than a year and a half ago, but officials were unable to resolve when the payments would be made and other details of the settlement until this week.

The first $50,000 installment will be paid in four or five months, a company official said. The full amount is due by July 31, 1996.

At least one environmental group considers the settlement low, considering that the city had originally placed the trees’ value at more than $311,000.

Tom Maxwell, chairman of the Conejo Valley chapter of the Sierra Club, said trees, even non-native ones such as the eucalyptus, are worth more to the environment than money.

“A tree is something you can’t replace once you cut it down,” Maxwell said. “It’s often the case that it’s more profitable to pay the fine than to obey the law in the first place.”

Before they were felled on March 27, 1989, the eucalyptus grove stood as tall as 80 feet at a corner of Old Conejo and Reino roads. Some trees had been planted 40 years earlier as protection from the wind.

Davis had originally been told by the city that the grove was not protected and could be removed, said his attorney, Charles Cohen.

“As far as I know, eucalyptus is still not a protected species, unless they’re part of a historical grove,” he said.

The City Council has withheld approval for Davis Developments’ project pending the outcome of the dispute. Plans for the project call for 13 buildings ranging in size from 8,000 to 37,000 square feet.

Thousand Oaks still has more than 200,000 trees, many of them protected under an oak ordinance and a resolution to preserve historic and landmark trees.

Because the native oak is the symbol of the 27-year-old city, Thousand Oaks has one of the most stringent oak tree-protection laws in Ventura County. Developers must request a permit to remove or destroy an oak tree and stiff penalties are issued to those who violate the law.

The first penalty issued to a developer was in 1986, when the city fined a Beverly Hills builder $21,000 for chopping down 27 young oaks.

But other types of trees considered historically valuable or important landmarks are protected under a separate resolution.

The eucalyptus trees had a historical value because they were planted on land that used to be owned by members of the pioneer Borchard family. They were planted to protect agricultural crops from the wind as it swept up the Conejo Grade. The trees were a familiar landmark along the westernmost entrance to the city.

The $150,000 settlement reached with Davis will go toward the purchase and planting of even more trees, said Deputy City Atty. Nancy Kierstyn Schreiner.

Davis Developments also must agree to transplant or replace any remaining eucalyptus trees, Schreiner said. Some of the trees rejuvenated after they were cut and have sprouted leaves.

The builder is required to plant a grove of trees--preferably oaks--on a hill behind the development, she said. Future property owners will be subject to the same conditions of the settlement if the land changes hands.

Mayor Frank Schillo said the penalty is appropriate, considering the mass destruction involved.

“I think people should be on notice that the city has grown in its respect for trees of all kinds in the community,” he said.