LAGUNA BEACH : Spare That Tree, City Council Decides

It was called a potential killer, a natural beauty and an asset to the neighborhood. As they approached the microphone one by one to describe it, the residents’ voices rose and shook with emotion. One man, however, quickly wrung sentiment from the discussion.

“It’s just a eucalyptus . . . planted in the wrong place,” he said.

A eucalyptus, however, is not taken lightly in Laguna Beach. Especially one that is 60 years old and 70 feet high.

That was clear Tuesday when the City Council voted to protect the wooden giant by placing it on the city’s Heritage Tree List, despite the objections of the owner of the vacant lot where the tree now stands.

Once a tree is registered, anyone who fells it faces a fine decided by a judge. To alter a listed tree requires a city permit. To determine their worthiness for such protection, trees are judged according to their size, history or unusual appearance.

Helen Correll, the 85-year-old South Pasadena resident who is selling the Pala Way property, appealed to the council before its decision. She has paid taxes on the property since 1943, she said, and should therefore decide the fate of the eucalyptus, a type of tree not native to California.

“I’ve been hanging on to that property ever since, because I knew eventually I would need the money, and it was kind of an investment for me,” Correll said. “What am I going to do? I have this lot and I need the money.”

The property is in escrow, Correll’s real estate agent said. The sale hinges on the city’s Design Review Board’s approval of the new owner’s plans for the 75-by-40-foot lot, which called for removing the tree.

Neighbors, however, including one who said the eucalyptus is partly on his property, have battled to keep the tree standing--even to the point of parking a car between the tree and cutting crews.

“For the past two or three weeks we’ve been fighting for a life,” one neighbor said.

“I’m very saddened someone would exploit our natural beauty to make a buck,” said Linda Nelson, who applied for the protective status for the tree. “It’s just an emotional issue for me because I really care about this tree.”

But Terry Ryan, Correll’s real estate agent, said the real motive was to block development on the property. Ryan was armed with a letter from arborist Greg Applegate, who said this particular eucalyptus is of a rare and dangerous species known to “drop big limbs on hot, still summer days.”

“This is not a fact that I would take lightly, since a number of people in Southern California have been killed and injured by eucalyptus of this type,” the letter said.

But another arborist, Paul Frank, told the council that the tree in question is “vigorous, strong and durable,” and still has a good 35 more years to live.

Unable to reach what Councilwoman Ann Christoph called a “joint cease-fire,” the council took a vote.

“It was easy for me until Mrs. Correll got up,” Councilwoman Lida Lenney said. “At that point, I had the feeling I was choosing between Mrs. Correll and the tree.”

Finally, however, the council voted unanimously that the new owner could “sensitively develop the property” and still spare the tree.