Planning Panel Endorses New Rules to Protect Trees

Oaks, sycamores and large trees would be protected on Ventura County suburban tracts, farmland and ranches under an ordinance endorsed Thursday by the Ventura County Planning Commission.

More than a year in the making, the tree-protection ordinance initially would have only protected trees in populated areas next to the county’s 10 cities.

“This affords a level of protection for part of the environment that can’t speak for itself, the trees,� Commissioner Sue Boecker said.

Barbara Johnson, vice president of the Susana Knolls Homeowners Assn., praised the vote.

“After years of witnessing the destruction of majestic and historic oaks in the county, it is very satisfying to be this close to achieving much needed protection,� said Johnson, whose group pushed the ordinance.

The commission unanimously supported the ordinance and sent it to the Board of Supervisors over the protest of half a dozen ranchers. Several ranchers argued that trees should not get special protection in a time of drought.

“If we have an excessive number of oaks or any tree in any area, the ground water will be depleted that much quicker,� said A. E. Sloan Jr., a Santa Paula rancher.

A 1981 county ordinance protected several species of mature trees around the Casitas, Matilija, Sherwood and Piru lakes and along the Maricopa Highway. It was replaced last April with a temporary ordinance intended to stop clear-cutting on ranches and in building developments.

The new ordinance would require a permit, in most instances, to chop down any oak or sycamore tree more than 9 1/2 inches in circumference, which would be about 25 feet tall. The same would hold for any type of tree considered a “heritage� tree, more than 90 inches around or 100 feet tall.

Tree-removal permits would be granted by the Planning Department if the applicant gets a tree expert to certify that the tree is dead, diseased, infested or could cause structural damage or harm.

“We’re not intending to have an army of tree police,� said County Planner Todd Collart, co-author of the ordinance. He said applicants need not hire a tree consultant if they can show with photographs that a tree is damaged or unsafe.

Permits also would be required for pruning more than 20% of the canopy of any protected tree.

In a concession to ranchers, the proposed ordinance includes a provision allowing agricultural landowners to cut down up to five protected trees a year. They would have to provide an explanation to officials to remove six to 10 trees and furnish a ranchland management plan for more than that number.

James Kerwin of Oakview was among those opposing the measure. He maintained that the county has no right to tell him what he can do with the 48 oak trees that he has on a 1.3-acre lot.

“They’re my trees,� Kerwin said. “I’m responsible for them, and I don’t feel any government agency, or even my neighbors, should tell me how to take care of them.�