Deep-Rooted Feelings : Sale of 11 Mature Jacarandas Has Costa Mesa Officials Fighting Mad

The 11 jacaranda trees on Kalmus Drive are cordoned off with bright yellow tape. Like those at a police crime scene, the ribbons warn onlookers to stay away.

Three men standing neck-high in trenches around one of the round trunks work to extricate roots extending like tentacles into the soil. The hum of a giant backhoe muffles the workers’ conversations as it scoops buckets of dirt around the tree in an effort to pry it from the earth.

For the past 20 years, the tropical trees have adorned this business park on the city’s northern edge. These 15-foot-tall trees, which bloom with brilliant lavender blossoms each spring, dominate the greenbelt of an otherwise ordinary office complex of buildings and parking lots.

Soon, however, the trees will have a new home. And that has displeased some local residents who watched Thursday as workers prepared the jacarandas to be trucked to Los Angeles. There they will be replanted in time for the rededication of Los Angeles’ newly refurbished downtown library.

It seems the trees are the payoff in a complicated transaction involving a tree broker, whose job it is to find rare trees, the Orange County Department of Education and the city of Los Angeles.

Under the plan, the Orange County Department of Education, which owns the trees, will get more new, albeit younger and less expensive, ones, and landscaping. Los Angeles will get the mature jacarandas later this month. And the tree broker will get a profit.

It is a deal that makes some Costa Mesa officials angry, but because of a loophole in the city’s code, they can do nothing to block the transfer.

“It is a heinous crime against the city of Costa Mesa,” complained John De Witt, a member of the city’s Parks, Recreation Facilities and Parkways Commission, which oversees city open space. “These people are making a mockery of our street landscape setbacks. . . . We are losing a valuable urban forest.”

But tree broker Paul Albert of Paul Michael Albert & Associates of Costa Mesa defends the move, saying some of the jacarandas in the landscaped median in years past had fallen down. Moreover, he said, the deal is a good way for the cash-strapped Education Department to save on landscaping costs.

“There were many trees that were no longer in the greenbelt due to the fact that the (Education Department) had no money to replace them,” Albert said. “We definitely don’t go into an area to acquire a tree unless there is a reason. . . . Ultimately there must be a problem with the tree.”

Albert said his company has for 45 years hunted down rare trees for developers, cities and other clients who want something that isn’t available through local nurseries. To fill an order, he said, his employees will scour local communities for trees with just the right profile, look or age. Some of the finds have landed at Disneyland, the John Wayne Airport and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley, company officials said.

When Albert got the order for mature trees for the library project in Los Angeles, he knew just where to look. Company staff members went to 200 Kalmus Drive and approached Bruce Dunseth, facilities manager for the Orange County Department of Education, which owns the trees. Albert offered Dunseth a swap: his company would take out the 11 mature jacarandas, replace them with 24 younger ones, and add some new landscaping. All would be free to the Education Department.

“They said they had a project going that required some large trees,” Dunseth said about Albert’s offer. “They said they would be willing to trade us. They would take out one tree and give us two.”

Although the jacarandas had not caused problems in the past, Dunseth said, he took the offer. He said the trees weren’t spaced properly and that the new ones would give a “nicer landscaped effect” to the Education Department offices.

Albert said his firm is not making a large profit on the jacarandas, mainly because they are so expensive to move. He estimated that his profit would amount to about $850 to $1,000 per tree.

Bob Goodwin, construction manager for part of the library development for Maguire Thomas Partners, said the tree brokers are being paid $6,500 to $12,000 per tree, depending on the size.

De Witt says that he is determined to stop the move and that he has contacted Costa Mesa officials.

Under the city code, private property owners have the right to sell their trees, even if they grow in a planned area with strict city landscaping requirements.

Costa Mesa officials, however, are equally unhappy over the impending move and are now trying to bridge the legal gap. They have told Albert’s company that the roots of four of the 11 trees extend into the city’s right of way, and therefore, that the company must seek city permits to remove them.

“We are a little upset about the raping of the area made beautiful by these jacaranda trees,” said Keith Van Holt, director of the city Community Services Department. “We are in the process of putting together a street tree ordinance to tighten up the loophole.”

Meanwhile, city officials in Los Angeles were just learning Thursday where the trees for the library renovation were coming from.

“We knew nothing about this until this morning,” said Karen Ginsberg, a senior planner for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. The agency provided money for the project but is not in charge of it.

“We have alerted the city and the construction manager on the site,” she said.

However, Goodwin said he does not believe that there is reason to be concerned.

“It is my understanding that (Albert & Associates) have not done anything illegal,” he said. The city of Costa Mesa “is governed by their ordinances, which do not prohibit the trees to be sold to the Albert brothers.”

If De Witt has his way, the trees, which have been unearthed and placed in large planters, would be replanted right where they are. He said he will try to persuade Los Angeles officials not to accept the shipment and also threatened to stage a protest at the library site.

“My sincere hope, now realizing that it has been at our expense, is that they (Los Angeles city officials) will not accept them at the job site,” De Witt said angrily as he watched nursery workers try to box the golden-leafed trees. “This is very unethical.”

Jacaranda Tree

Jacaranda is a Brazilian name for certain types of trees and shrubs native to South America.

Scientific name: Jacaranda mimosifolia.

Appearance: From 25 to 50 feet tall with full, rounded crown and large fernlike leaves consisting of many tiny lance-shaped leaflets; sheds leaves in early spring.

Bark: Thick, broad, scaly ridges; grayish brown.

Flowers: Clusters of small violet bell-shaped flowers with five petals; appear in late spring.

Fruit: Small oval-shaped capsules; light brown; splits open at maturity to release seeds.

Sources: The World Book Encyclopedia, the Complete Trees of North America;

Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times