Firm Pays for Razing Oaks; Seeks to Cut More

STEVENSON RANCH — An Agoura Hills-based developer paid $71,800 in retroactive fees Wednesday for cutting down two 300-year-old oak trees in violation of a Los Angeles County ordinance, then angered environmentalists by asking permission to cut down two more.

At a hearing in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission, the commission ordered executives of the Dale Poe Development Corp. to pay “mitigation fees” for cutting down the two trees in October 1995.

The trees were in the area of a Poe construction project on Pico Canyon Road.

The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE), an activist group, reported the cutting to county officials.

Dale Poe executives conceded at the hearing that the trees were cut under a permit that had expired, and quickly handed over a check to county officials.

They then said the company needs to remove two additional trees to make way for an intersection at Pico Canyon Road and Constitution Avenue. The trees would be a hazard to motorists if left standing, they said.

Environmental activists disagreed, saying that the road could go around the trees.

“It’s time the Public Works Department begins considering the quality of life and the objectives of the oak tree ordinance,” said Lynne Plambeck, vice president of SCOPE.

The Planning Commission said it needed more time to study the arguments. The hearing will resume on Feb. 26.