Street Trees Are at the Root of Homeowners’ Sewer Problems

Residents say something smells to high heaven along their street in West Los Angeles.

And, no, it’s not just the stench from sewer pipes that keep cracking open with unpleasant regularity on Bentley Avenue.

What’s so offensive to homeowners is the city’s response to the problem of municipally owned trees whose roots are crushing the sewer lines.

The city refuses to repair the pipes and in general will not let property owners chop down the offending ficus trees, residents say.

Some homeowners may even have taken matters into their own hands and poisoned their trees.

Others are digging into their pockets to pay as much as $20,000 to have private contractors replace broken clay pipes with newer, supposedly tougher clay lines.

“In May of last year I spent $5,100 to replace part of my pipe. This time it’s costing me $6,500 to replace the rest,” Steven Golod said as he stood on a thick knot of tree roots next to his curb and peered into a 10-foot-deep trench.

Los Angeles-area officials say tree root problems with sewer lines are common in subdivisions built in the 1940s and ‘50s--although the concentration of complaints from these several blocks of Bentley is unusual.

Ficus, fig and magnolia trees cause the most headaches, experts say.

Hardy and fast-growing, the ficus in particular provided popular landscaping stock along streets in Los Angeles a few decades ago. But as the trees grew, they became known less for their year-round canopies of leaves than for their thick roots, which began pushing up sidewalks in such places as Hollywood, Brentwood and Larchmont Village.

Along portions of Bentley, residents say officials planted ficuses in the city right of way in front of each house instead of building a sidewalk.

The lack of sidewalks--coupled with the shady expanse of trees--gave the neighborhood just east of the San Diego Freeway a rural feel that Golod admits enticed his family to move there 18 years ago.

Golod silently wrote out the check for last year’s pipe repair job. But this time around he asked the city to pay. No way, officials told him: It’s your pipe and your problem.

When he suggested that maybe the tree should be removed, the city again refused.

The city’s policy is to preserve its mature street trees, officials advised him in writing. They said he could apply for a “root prune permit” to eliminate ficus roots growing near his pipe.

And a separate tree removal permit could be granted if the root pruning killed the tree or weakened it enough that a city inspector could declare it a danger to public safety, Golod was advised.

But even in that case, he would have to pay for the removal and then for a replacement tree.

“The city is committed to maintaining the environment of the urban forest,” said Cora Fossett, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, which oversees the 680,000 trees planted along 6,500 miles of streets.

The city, which values its street trees at $2 billion, encourages citizens to report instances of illegal removal to public works inspectors by calling (800) 996-CITY, Fossett said.

Los Angeles isn’t the only Southland city that takes its street trees seriously.

In neighboring Culver City, a policy adopted after a 1992 dispute over ficus tree damage to sewer pipes along Motor Avenue requires residents to prove they spent at least $5,000 for repairs necessitated by root damage before then can get a tree removal permit.

But sewer pipe damage alone isn’t enough. Culver City requires proof that roots have damaged walls and foundations.

Property owners must post a bond of about $1,500 as a guarantee that they will replace the tree with a city-approved one. The replacement tree must be outfitted with special root growth control barriers.

Illegally chopping down a street tree is considered vandalism and destruction of public property. “We don’t have vigilantism anymore,” said Steven Cooper, Culver City’s acting tree maintenance supervisor.

In West Los Angeles, Bentley Avenue homeowners say some frustrated neighbors have taken drastic action. Stories circulate about how some have poisoned ficus trees by pouring gasoline over their roots.

Such a tactic is even more serious than chopping them down, say public works officials.

Robert Harvey, water supervisor for Santa Monica, said someone caught using gasoline to kill a tree could face federal Environmental Protection Agency sanctions far more severe than a local vandalism charge. Even a small amount of gasoline poured into the ground can contaminate a drinking water aquifer, he said.

But most Bentley residents are simply replacing their sewer lines and hiring tree trimmers to prune the trees in hopes of slowing future root growth.

“The city didn’t use any logic when they planted these trees right over the pipes,” said Cheryl Crowley, who has lived on the street for 27 years and ponied up more than $7,000 for repairs to her sewer line. “They should come out here and replace their trees.”

Former neighbor Karen McCauley said arborists have told her that the ficus’ roots are so thick because the city hasn’t pruned the branches often enough.

McCauley paid $7,000 for pipe repairs before moving a year ago to a new home a mile away. But she is dismayed that some Bentley residents may be deliberately destroying the graceful shade trees.

“People get exasperated after paying $15,000 or $20,000 to correct their sewer lines. But I hate to see people chop them down or poison them. That wrecks the ambience of the neighborhood,” she said.

“I’ll tell you, I’d never move in L.A. next to a ficus if I could help it.”

Her new Los Angeles neighborhood, according to McCauley, is lined by magnolias.

Magnolias? Oh, no.