Axed walnut tree cultivates controversy

Residents say developer deliberately chopped it down


BEFORE  AND  AFTER- The  corner  of  Chesebro  and  Palo Comado with the black walnut tree, above, and without it, below.

BEFORE AND AFTER- The corner of Chesebro and Palo Comado with the black walnut tree, above, and without it, below.


Was it a case of sour grapes that prompted Pasadena developers Aitan and Schlomy Hillel to cut down a 50-year-old black walnut tree in Old Agoura?

Some area residents think so.

The Hillels have been wrangling with officials about their right to develop their land in the equestrian area for more than four years. A prominent occupant of the site was a large and leafy black walnut.

“The planting of trees has special significance in Israel and is often done in honor of someone or a special event,” said Old Agoura Ranger Larry Brown. “How ironic that two guys from Israel came here and cut down ours.”

The Agoura Hills planning commission denied the developers’ application for a large carwash and lube and detail center in March 2007, and the City Council denied their appeal four months later.

The Hillels filed suit against the city, but the case was dismissed in court in early April.

The black walnut’s days were then numbered. The tree was cut down April 27 or 28, according to Robyn Britton, an Old Agoura resident.

Why cut the tree down?

“I understand that this occurred right after a judge threw out the Hillels’ suit against the city,” said Old Agoura resident Robert Evren.

“For this reason,” Evren said, “it’s difficult not to see the cutting of such a prominent tree as an act of childish spite. It also underlines the importance of including, as Los Angeles County does, more than just oaks on the list of protected trees.”

“I don’t know what the motive was in taking the tree down,” said Mike Kamino, director of community planning and development.

Aitan Hillel later said in a telephone interview that he had asked Kamino about the legality of his plan to chop down the walnut, and Kamino told him he had the legal right, but some people were going to be mad.

That prediction proved true. Many neighboring residents believe the motive for destroying the tree was spite.

Agoura Hills Mayor John Edelston called the removal of the tree “coldhearted and shameful.”

The Hillels wanted to build the carwash on the corner of Chesebro Road and Palo Comado Canyon Drive. City officials and residents didn’t think the business was a good fit for the area because it’s near a preschool, an equestrian center and a senior living facility.

A problematic species

The rarity of the site’s walnut tree had been a focus of the planning commission meeting in 2007. The city’s arborist said black walnuts are not protected, but are a threatened species because of “rapidly vanishing habitat.”

Los Angeles County protects black walnut trees, but Agoura Hills doesn’t offer black walnuts the same legal protection that it provides for oaks, and the city’s authority supersedes the county’s in such matters.

The Nature Conservancy Heritage Program has declared the black walnut “rare,” and walnut woodlands as “very threatened.”

The remaining strands of black walnut trees in Southern California are at risk because of urbanization, livestock overgrazing, and the proliferation of alien plant species, experts say.

However, Sunset magazine’s “Western Garden Book” does recommend that California black walnuts not be planted in or near parking lots, as the trees are prone to aphid infestation, and the insects’ “honeydew” drippings are a sticky annoyance to car owners.

Walnut meets woodpile

“It wasn’t protected and it was my right to cut it down,” Aitan Hillel said. He said the city, the (Old Agoura) homeowners association and the community didn’t treat him fairly. “I don’t owe (anyone) any apologies. I didn’t like it and I cut it down.”

Several days later, he added, “It was a wild tree and a messy tree, and I did this just to protect my property (rights).

“For four years I went (through the city’s permit process) and tried,” he said. “I did everything they wanted and they still denied me. The way they do things, it makes me want to puke . . . they lynched me. (But) I don’t hate anybody. I don’t allow myself to.”

Hillel said he had spoken with Kamino about his plans for the property before cutting down the walnut and asked if Kamino could help mediate between the homeowners association and the developer.

What’s next?

“The Hillel brothers heard the discussions about the possibility of protecting the tree in the future,” said Old Agoura resident Ron Troncatty.

“Some people just have the attitude that the property belongs to them and they can do whatever they want,” Troncatty said. “We’re (all) just transients on the land.

“Maybe they decided to cut their losses before it became problematic,” he said, adding that rash actions often come back to “bite people in the butt.”

Asked what the brothers now plan to do with the land, Hillel said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now; I don’t want to say one way or the other. My lawyers are planning to appeal (the denial) to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

Gary Rich, a longtime Old Agoura resident, said he was disappointed the tree had been cut down, but thought the Hillels’ decision was made because they might want to sell the property and the tree was a “potential obstacle.

“That tree was an albatross on their backs and afterwards it became a bitter reminder of what happened,” Rich said. “Was he thumbing his nose at the community because his project wasn’t accepted with open limbs,” Rich asked. “Maybe . . .”

 

 

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