Trees Too Short for Main Street : Renovation: A showcase block of downtown Ventura remains unfinished after palms are rejected.

What was to become the showcase block of a multimillion-dollar renovation in downtown Ventura remained unfinished Tuesday when a subcontractor tried to plant trees that city officials said were too short for Main Street.

The first batch of queen palms ordered to replace the troublesome ficus trees chopped down last month was flatly rejected.

An Oxnard nursery delivered five queen palm trees early Tuesday to plant along the north side of Main Street between Fir and Chestnut streets.

But the trees were supposed to stand 16 feet from the ground to the beginning of the fronds, City Planner Patrick Richardson said. Instead, Richardson said, the Joe ScholleLandscape Co. delivered five trees that were 16 feet tall including the fronds.

“There’s not really a dispute, they’re just the wrong size,” Richardson said.

Crews from Berry General Engineering, the Oxnard contractor overseeing the $3.5-million renovation, hoped to plant the five queen palms in front of Foster Library, the first block to be completed in the four-month renovation.

City officials wanted that block completed so they could use it as an early example of what the commercial core will look like when the project is completed.

But the shorter trees would ruin the look, taking years to grow to the right height, Richardson said.

“From the ground up to where the palm fronds are, that needs to be 16 feet,” he said. “Under our contract, they ship the trees, we inspect them and accept them. But we rejected them.”

Landscaper Joe Scholle did not return messages left at his office Tuesday.

The earliest that stretch of road now could be completed is next week, Richardson said. Landscapers purchased the trees wholesale from a farm in San Diego, where about 80 queen palms and honey locusts are on order for the Ventura project.

“We are going to send someone from our parks division down to San Diego,” he said. “Then they’re going to inspect all the trees for the whole project.”

The city agreed to spend $806 on each queen palm and another $270 for each honey locust. The two varieties will replace scores of ficus trees that lined California and Main streets for decades.

Many merchants complained that the gumdrop-shaped ficus trees obstructed their storefronts, and city maintenance crews said caring for them was too much trouble.

The ficus trees were chopped down and carted off last month, with city officials promising a more visible downtown within months.

“If you plant trees that have the foliage right where the ficus trees were, you have to wait a few years to get the view,” Richardson said. “That’s what we’re paying for, and we want what we’re paying for.”

Robert Sainsbury, the Berry Engineering project manager, said delivery of the shorter trees was a simple mistake.

“The supplier just shipped out the wrong trees. It’s no big deal,” he said. “It’ll probably be delayed a week or so before we get all the trees. But we have all the honey locusts ready to go.”

Meanwhile, Sainsbury said, the recent rainstorms have pushed back the finishing date of the entire project. Crews are working one block at a time, from 10 p.m. through early afternoon five days a week.

“It’s going pretty well,” Sainsbury said. “But because of the rain delays, it’s going to be delayed a few weeks. I’m hoping for mid-July.”