Firm Ordered to Pay Into Oak Tree Fund

A land company Thursday was ordered to pay $20,000 to an environmental fund after pleading no contest to illegally clearing protected oak trees from its property in Sunland, Los Angeles city prosecutors said.

The sentence was imposed on Major Land Co. in Los Angeles Municipal Court after the firm pleaded no contest to six misdemeanor charges of cutting oaks without obtaining a city permit, the city attorney’s office said. The company also was placed on two years probation.

The charges stemmed from the clear-cutting last August of trees in the 10300 block of Sunland Boulevard. Responding to complaints from neighbors, a city public works inspector found that 223 trees had been destroyed, City Atty. James K. Hahn said.

“The inspector said the property looked like a logging camp,” Hahn said.

Most of the trees were unprotected species, such as pine, cypress, eucalyptus and pepper. Seventy-three were California live oaks--but only a dozen were confirmed to be of sufficient size to fall under the oak-protection ordinance.

The city ordinance, in effect since 1980, was meant to protect remaining stands of Valley oaks and California live oaks, which have been ravaged by development. The law requires a permit before removal of oaks that are at least eight inches in diameter at a point 4 1/2 feet above the base.

The permit application must include a plot plan mapping the location of trees and specifying which ones are to be saved, removed or relocated. Before issuing a permit, the city Board of Public Works may require retention of more trees or the planting of two trees for each one removed.

In the Major Land case, most of the trees were gone when the inspector arrived, with only the stumps remaining.

The inspector was able to identify only 12 oaks as being large enough to be protected, Deputy City Atty. Don Kass said.

The $20,000 is to be paid into a city oak tree trust fund and used for tree maintenance or planting.

Because of the violations, Kass said city officials will conduct a hearing on any development proposed for the property, and could suspend development rights for up to 10 years.