Newport, Arbor Society Settle Balboa Ficus Dispute

Newport Beach officials settled their legal dispute Thursday with a group that went to court to preserve 25 ficus trees that once draped Balboa Peninsula’s Main Street.

The accord was mostly a symbolic victory for the Balboa Arbor Society, however, because the city had removed 23 of the trees in September.

The agreement, which was signed at City Hall, states that the city will make good-faith efforts to maintain one of the two remaining trees, will review the city’s tree policy and consider adoption of a new tree ordinance, and will pay the society’s attorney $56,000 in fees.

The city will remove the tree in front of a pharmacy but will keep the one in front of the Balboa Inn.

Officials had wanted to remove all the trees, which were planted in the 1960s, because they stood in the way of a $2.8-million improvement project on Main Street.

In exchange, the society agreed to drop its lawsuit and an injunction that had sought to halt removal of the trees.

The Arbor Society had won the injunction in August, stalling the city’s attempts to remove the trees, at least until a full hearing could be scheduled in mid-September.

But another judge lifted the injunction before the hearing, and the city cut the trees down.

By the time the society and city were in court for the full hearing -- during which the society succeeded in getting the injunction reinstated -- 23 of the trees were gone. The injunction, however, prevented the city from removing the stumps and the two remaining trees.

Thursday’s settlement allows city crews to remove the stumps, which they will do next week, and install temporary decorated holiday trees.

Councilman Tod W. Ridgeway, whose district covers Balboa Village, said the agreement “is definitely good news for all of us and means work on the village can begin right after the holidays.”

Part of the improvement plan calls for new sidewalks, curbs and gutters. The city plans to replace the mature trees with young coral gum trees, which grow more slowly than ficus and have less-aggressive roots.

The ficus, imported from India and the Mediterranean, have been planted all over Southern California since the 1940s.

But they are fast-growing, and their thick, shallow roots can spread 20 feet or more.

The roots of the trees had broken through sidewalks, cracked the foundations of some homes and businesses, and threatened sewer pipes, city officials said.

Linda and Bud Grant, who say they spent about $15,000 fighting City Hall, said the trees’ majesty and charm outweighed any problems they might have caused.

Early on, the Arbor Society, which disputed the need to remove the trees, offered other suggestions. Group members said the city could prune the roots, install devices to block root growth or, at worst, remove just the trees that posed the most problems.