Company Fined for Cutting Down Oaks

A company that owns the Ventura Boulevard Mall was ordered earlier this week to pay more than $8,000 in fines and donations and to plant eight oak trees after pleading no contest to illegally cutting down protected oak trees without a permit.

Municipal Judge Harold Crowder sentenced Richley Inc. on Monday after it pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges that it cut down two species of oak trees, the valley oak and the live oak. Deputy City Atty. Brooke White, who prosecuted the case, said her office began investigating the company in April after authorities learned that the owners cut down the trees near the strip mall at 12038 Ventura Blvd.

The company was ordered to pay a $7,500 donation to the city’s Oak Tree Fund plus $505 in fines, according to City Atty. Jim Hahn. The Oak Tree Fund is used to pay for oak tree replacement and education programs.

Part of the sentence requires Richley Inc. to plant trees in a ravine adjacent to the shopping center to replace the trees it destroyed. The company was also placed on three years’ probation and ordered to post a bond to ensure proper maintenance and care for the newly planted trees for at least five years.

An oak tree ordinance, enacted in 1980, went into effect when the city decided it was necessary to protect remaining live oak and valley oak trees from being cut down by developers.