Century-old tree cut down at Hermosa Beach construction site
Workers cut down a tree at a construction site on Monterey Boulevard. City public works staff ordered a contractor to remove the tree after finding that it had been damaged beyond saving when its roots were exposed during demolition. Photo
Construction crews removed a tree, believed to be some 100 years old, in the public right-of-way from a Monterey Boulevard lot last week, creating new questions about contested trees on the site, including whether the property owner, L.A. Kings player Drew Doughty, illegally failed to maintain public trees during construction.
A crew removed the roughly 35-foot tall tree about 9 a.m. from a graded lot in the 2000 block of Monterey Boulevard on the morning of Dec. 1. Glen Kau, public works director for Hermosa Beach, had sent a letter to the Tomaro Design Group of Manhattan Beach the evening before authorizing the tree’s removal. Kau sent the letter following receipt of a report from a city-contracted arborist, who concluded that the tree was dying and had created “a hazardous condition for the workers on site and the public.”
But the letter also stated that it was construction at the property that had caused the need for the tree to be removed: “Your construction activity around the tree roots of the Monterey Pine tree has damaged the tree beyond restoration per the attached City arborist’s report,” the letter read. When an Easy Reader reporter asked Kau on Tuesday for a copy of the arborist’s report, Kau said it was not yet ready for “public circulation.”
Louie Tomaro, senior partner of the Tomaro Design Group, did not return a message requesting comment.
The extraction follows the Public Works Commission’s denial of the property developer’s request to remove the century-old Pine tree and two others on the property last month. Although all the trees are off of the sidewalk, they are within the public right-of-way, which is unusually broad on Monterey. City code requires applicants to get approval from Public Works prior to removing public trees above a certain trunk diameter.
At the commission’s Nov. 15 meeting, Jennifer Centeno, an arborist working for Matt Morris Development, told the commission that the trees on the property had been neglected and needed to be removed, and suggested replacing them with four new trees. But Elka Worner, a resident who has lived across the street from the property for decades, said that the tree had done fine under the previous occupant, and alleged that the demolition and shoring by crews working for Doughty had caused the damage — allegations that Kau’s letter to Tomaro appear to substantiate.
Citing these concerns, as well the possibility that other public trees on the property had been removed without permission, commissioners denied the applicant’s request. They requested the city send the arborist it uses to evaluate the condition of the tree. Although the commissioners made that request on Nov. 15, the arborist was not able to visit the site until Nov. 29 because the arborist, who also consults for other cities in the area, was not available until then, Kau said.
Along with requiring permits to remove public trees, city code also imposes a duty on property owners to maintain trees in the right-of-way that are adjacent to their lot, including during construction. Failure to do so could potentially be an infraction and referred to the Hermosa Beach Police Department. Kau said that city staff were reviewing conditions on the property to check for non-compliance with the code.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to the two remaining trees that the owner wishes to remove. Prior to the arborist’s visit, the issue had been scheduled to come back to the commission for reconsideration at its January meeting.
Public Works Commissioner Kent Brown said that he had not yet read the arborist’s report. He he said that, based on initial plans at the site that did not include the tree removed Friday, the property owner likely “didn’t want the tree there,” and acknowledged that “there was no process underway to save the tree until [the property owner] sought to remove it.”
But he said that the larger issue was the need for the city to improve coordination among departments involved in construction. Currently, the Building Department can issue demolition and shoring permits without approval from the Public Works Department.
“I think we are going to figure out a way to work more closely with [the] Building [Department] when they issue demolition permits. It seems like right hand needs better communication with the left hand,” Brown said.