Rules stump tree fans in La Caada Flintridge

Since La Caada passed its new tree ordinance in March, opponents have been crawling out of the woodwork.

One resident is circulating an online petition to repeal the ordinance, while another wants to look into having the city's "Tree City USA" status revoked by the Arbor Day Foundation, which has granted the title to 3,400 American communities since 1976.

Legally, according to city staff and one Arbor Day Foundation representative, those efforts are not likely to bear fruit, but residents are aiming to keep the issue in front of the public.

"If everybody cut down their trees, La Caada would look like Palmdale," said Larry Moss, the landscape architect who posted the petition to the website change.org. "If the city has to be tougher to protect our trees, then they have to be tougher."

The document has garnered 61 signatures and will be presented to Council when the 100 signature threshold is met, he added.

Petitioners protest that, with the exception of native oaks, sycamores and deodar cedars planted in historic sections of town, homeowners may cut down any and all trees on their properties.

Some want protections to be more expansive, while others want to have more input into construction projects that threaten local tree canopies.

"When you compare our policy to our neighbor Pasadena, there's a considerable gap," resident Cameron Crosby said at a May 5 City Council meeting. "We have three protected species, Pasadena has 126 there is a problem here."

Crosby and his La Forest Drive neighbors petitioned, unsuccessfully, in March to protect large pines on a lot being developed next door. He said La Caada had no right to be considered a "Tree City" if it would allow a homeowner to remove 20 of the lot's 23 trees.

"I don't think we deserve it," he said of the designation. "It ought to be taken away."

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Rules stump tree fans in La Caada Flintridge