Oaks residents are urged to attend the L.A. Board of Public Works' hearing on Friday March 21 at City Hall, Room 350, at which the Board will consider penalties for the owner of the lots on Live Oak East where illegal tree cutting occurred in June 2006.  The exact time of the hearing hasn't been set yet, but the agenda will be available on Wednesday, two days before the hearing at: http://lacity.org/bpw/Secretariat/Agendas.html

As reported before here at Oakshome.org, the owners' representative plead guilty in connection with the illegal clear-cutting of the Oak and Walnut trees on the property, and was sentenced in December of last year to a month of highway trash pick up and payment of a substantial fine (see the City Attorney's press release).  As a penalty for the owners of the property in connection with the illegal clear cutting, the Urban Forestry Division recommended that its overseeing board (the Board of Public Works) ask that the Department of Building and Safety withhold building permits for the two lots (of the original four) still owned by the owners for a period of ten years. This penalty will be in effect even if the owners sell the two lots.

The owners are contesting this penalty and will make their case at the Board of Public Works Hearing on March 21st.

The owners' original intention was to build 4 large houses on the 4 properties they owned at the time and remove all of the protected trees.  When the presence of the Oaks and walnuts were brought up by the neighbors, the city required an environmental review. The owners and their representative ignored that requirement as well as the city's protected tree ordinance and sent over a crew late on a Friday afternoon to clear cut the site. After the tree-cutting crew was stopped on that Friday by a group of neighbors, they returned the next day to complete the job, when they were also stopped. If you would like more details, please read the story posted on this website here.

Please attend the hearing on March 21st and let your opinion be heard.