CORONA DEL MAR : Woodman, Spare Those City Trees

Call it The Mystery of the Mutilated Tree.

On a quiet Sunday about three weeks ago, somebody took a chain saw to an expensive city-owned ficus tree that grows on the sidewalk along Coast Highway in downtown Corona del Mar.

The city’s General Services Department, which opened an unusual investigation into the incident, has “a list of suspects that is extremely narrow” and a possible motive.

“We think some business owner has mutilated the tree that (was) growing higher and cutting off views of their signs” to passing motorists, said David Niederhaus, general services director for the city. “But the bottom line is that we will get to the bottom of this.”

Damage to the tree, which suffered amputation of more than half its leaves and branches on the sidewalk side of the street, is estimated at thousands of dollars.

It is not the first time people have taken it upon themselves to shear a city-owned tree they didn’t like. “It is one of the biggest problems of the summer,” he said.

Earlier this week, city workers caught two residents in another part of town chopping down a tree that blocked their view of the ocean. The city attorney is negotiating with the guilty parties to pay more than $1,400 to replace it.

And in its August newsletter, the Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce issued a caution to merchants: “Unbeknown to some merchants, trimming the ficus trees on PCH is a civil offense and the responsible party can be and will be prosecuted by the city of Newport Beach. . . . Tree cutters remember George Washington doesn’t live here so leave the ficus trees alone!!!!”

Merchants or anyone else must seek the city’s permission before any bothersome branches may be removed, Niederhaus warned.

For their part, several merchants who do business in the former shadow of the tree, which was near Goldenrod Avenue, are quick to offer an alibi.

“I have heard so many stories about who could have done it,” said Nan Smith, owner of the Nan Smith Cruises and Travel agency. “It happened on a Sunday--and we are closed on Sunday, thank God--so we didn’t see it until we came in on Monday. I don’t know who did it.”

Smith said the lost leaves are not such a bad thing.

“Leaves from it used to blow into my office. It was a mess,” Smith said, “ . . . but not anymore.”

Next door, the owner of the Village Weaver called the radical tree-trimming something of a blessing for his business as well.

“It was too full and covering my sign. Nobody could see (the sign) from out there,” said Roy Kim, Village Weaver owner, pointing to the street.

Kim added that since the tree was cut, “more people are noticing that we are here” and business has picked up.

“But the day it happened, I was not here,” Kim added.

Niederhaus said that to find the source of the problem, one must go back to January and February.

“With the winter rains and all, we have had an accelerated growth” that has resulted in fuller, greener trees throughout the city, said Niederhaus. According to the city’s three-year tree-trimming cycle, the damaged ficus was scheduled to be trimmed February, 1994.

But now, what remains of the tree may have to be chopped down, uprooted and replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars.