Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment (SCOPE), asks the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to amend the County Oak Ordinance by means of a “Tune Up.” She asks the Supervisors to oppose item 5 (beginning at page 25), unless amended and interested parties are notified. She also requests an oak ordinance committee be established.  The full letter below.  

Dear Honorable Supervisors and staff:

The Los Angeles County Oak Ordinance was first established in 1982 in an effort to slow the loss of this iconic baseline native tree species routinely destroyed by thoughtless development. Community groups came together then to work with the County to develop this ordinance that required careful review, replacement and fines for unpermitted oak destruction. It is unconscionable that now the County continues to incrementally change this venerable and long-standing through a “Tune Up” process that has no included interested parties. This has not occurred for the proposed changes. Please do not approve these changes without input from an oak review committee.

While approving a seemingly harmless change to allow removal of ANY oak for disease, etc., may seem logical, this provision is already in the oak ordinance. It seems that this “Tune up” is merely to remove those trees without notice, including Heritage Oak trees. We are concerned that this change would allow the county forester to remove such historical trees as the Marker Oak in Pico Canyon, also of indigenous importance, that was saved with the help of former Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy.

At considerable expense to the developer, Coco’s and the Comfort Inn were built to avoid it. Now it could be removed under this changed ordinance. That would be a big loss for our community. We are sure that communities throughout the County have such natural historical treasures that they would not wish to lose.

In addition, it is important to understand why an oak is failing. Is it due to a leaking gas line that should be repaired? Has it been poisoned to allow a development to proceed at less expense? Are there nesting birds (such as wood peckers, Owls and hawks) present that should be considered? Is the tree important enough to the community that actions to save it rather than remove it, be taken? These questions cannot be answered without notifying the community.

We attached a series of Nextdoor posts expressing dismay over the loss of an important oak in the Val Verde area. We still don’t know why or who removed this oak.

Please help us protect our oak resource in Los Angeles County by removing this change to the oak ordinance and convening a committee to look at this and future changes before they are brought to your Board.

Last, while we appreciate that this agenda item at least now complies with the Brown Act, we can find no place where this ordinance was posted for 30 days notice. None of the people that have previously commented on oak ordinance changes were notified that this proposed change would be heard tomorrow, including SCOPE members who have been active in this issue, and it is NOT posted on the County’s Planning website, where the public might expect to see it. (see below)

When I asked several staff people where ordinances were noticed so that the public might see them in advance, no one knew. It feels like this process has been structured to avoid any public input, even though a means to provide such input was promised by the Planning Commission when the process began in 2021.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of these concerns.

Sincerely,

Lynne Plambeck

SCOPE President