Forest Lawn to Give City 90 Acres for Park in Return for Right to Remove Oaks

Forest Lawn agreed Friday to give the city of Los Angeles nearly 90 acres of land for Griffith Park and about $70,000 in return for the right to uproot more than 100 oak trees on cemetery property.

The agreement stems from a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed by Forest Lawn in March to stop the city from repealing an ordinance that allows the cemetery to remove oak trees from its original 400 acres in the Hollywood Hills just south of Burbank.

The cemetery wants to remove the trees to provide more room for burials.

In the agreement, signed in a closed City Council session, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries agreed to donate the land for the expansion of Griffith Park while paying the city $670 for every oak tree the cemetery removes, said Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker.

The land given to the city is mostly in a very steep area that could not be used for burials, Pritsker said. Forest Lawn also agreed to plant an equal number of oak trees elsewhere in the cemetery and to take measures to preserve Sennett Canyon, which is on cemetery land.

The money given to the city will be used for other oak tree preservation projects around Los Angeles, Pritsker said.

All that remains for the settlement to be finalized is the signature of the court, he said.