SANTA PAULA : Councilwoman Seeks Ban on Cutting Down Old Oaks

Santa Paula City Councilwoman Margaret Ely has asked her colleagues to join her in drafting a law prohibiting residents from cutting down centuries-old oak trees, in the wake of Monday’s chopping of a tree that raised complaints from some neighbors.

“I would like to see protection for the trees,” said Ely, who received a number of calls after the 60-foot oak was felled on private property. She said she will begin drafting an ordinance immediately.

“But I don’t want it to be impossible or unfair,” she said.

Jess Magana said an ordinance that would have prohibited him from cutting down the huge oak in his back yard would have been unfair and possibly unsafe. He said he paid a tree cutter $600 to ax the tree when its roots threatened to knock down a brick wall between his house and his neighbor’s. The tree was also growing into overhead power lines, creating a potential danger of electrocution, he said.

“I couldn’t just trim it,” said Magana, who has lived in the tract home at 520 Citrus St. for 15 years. “I’m afraid it was too high and too heavy. It could knock down a telephone pole.”

But Magana’s neighbors disagreed with the decision to completely cut down the old oak, saying a trim would have sufficed.

“It was very distressing to hear the saw, and listen to big clumps from parts of the tree falling down,” neighbor Janet Robles said. “I’m against anybody cutting a tree down that’s been here for a hundred years or so.”

Robles gave the City Council a guide to drafting an ordinance published by the California Oak Foundation. She said she hopes the council will take action soon, before any more trees are cut.

“It was a huge, lovely thing,” she said of the oak.

If a new ordinance is drafted, it would prohibit the axing of large oak trees and encourage people to incorporate the trees into architecture and landscaping plans instead of cutting them down, Ely said.

The cities of Moorpark, Ojai, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks have ordinances prohibiting the removal of trees in residential areas. The county has a temporary ordinance in place, and the Board of Supervisors is expected to adopt a permanent one at its Dec. 17 meeting.

The ordinance “will prevent the helter-skelter destruction of a large volume of trees,” county planner Terry Newman said.