Fate of Calabasas oak tree uncertain;

neighbors, city at


NOT A PRETTY PICTURE--This is how an oak tree looked last November after it was pruned in Calabasas. The tree grows on property that belongs to Patrick Seymour and it was trimmed by a landscaper who was working for Seymour's neighbors, Scott and Carolyn Scharg. It requires a city permit to trim or cut down any oak tree in Calabasas, which wasn't done in this case. The city wants $10,000 to mitigate damage to the tree (which is, so far, unacceptable to the Schargs). The predicament seems destined for a courtroom unless a mutually agreed upon solution can be negotiated. Virtually all local areas have laws that protect oak trees.

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE–This is how an oak tree looked last November after it was pruned in Calabasas. The tree grows on property that belongs to Patrick Seymour and it was trimmed by a landscaper who was working for Seymour’s neighbors, Scott and Carolyn Scharg. It requires a city permit to trim or cut down any oak tree in Calabasas, which wasn’t done in this case. The city wants $10,000 to mitigate damage to the tree (which is, so far, unacceptable to the Schargs). The predicament seems destined for a courtroom unless a mutually agreed upon solution can be negotiated. Virtually all local areas have laws that protect oak trees.

Fate of Calabasas oak tree uncertain;


neighbors, city at


odds over what to do


By Michael Picarella


Acorn Staff Writer

It all started last November.


An oak tree was growing over the walkways and onto the roof, according to Scott and Carolyn Scharg, of their newly purchased home in Calabasas. They had the tree trimmed to avoid roof damages. But the Scharg’s, who were new to the area, didn’t know they had to get the city’s approval to touch any oak tree in Calabasas.


The Schargs moved from Michigan to a transitional dwelling in Chatsworth last summer and in October they found a home in Calabasas. Shortly afterward, the Schargs said they asked their neighbor if they could trim some trees on their property that intruded onto the Schargs’ property.


"There was a very, very fleeting conversation—a conversation that wasn’t face-to-face, but called across the distance of 15 or 20 meters—about tree trimming, between Mr. Scharg and my wife," said Patrick Seymour, neighbor and owner of the oak tree. "(Mr. Scharg) said, ‘These trees,’ indicating pine trees, ‘go over our walkway and I’d like to cut them back.’ (Seymour’s wife) said okay," Seymour said.


Mr. Scharg then asked Seymour’s wife about trimming the oak tree, Seymour said. "She told him, ‘This tree is an oak tree and we’re very particular about our oak trees in Calabasas,’ or something like that," Seymour said. She never approved trimming of that tree, he said.


The Schargs said they thought Seymour’s wife gave them an approval to trim the oak tree, as well as the pine trees, and they proceeded with the pruning on a Saturday in early November.


"We had to trim these trees," Carolyn Scharg said. No one would insure her house, she said, because trees surrounded it. Her home, she said, has three chimneys and trees were growing over them, creating a fire hazard. The fire department requires trees to be at least 10 feet from the chimneys, she said.


The county can trim the trees of non-complying homeowners at the taxpayer’s expense, said Ken Bunch of the fire department.


Seymour wasn’t home the day the Schargs had the trees pruned. Seymour later described the trimming as the "butchering" of his tree. He was unable to stop, he said, what he knew was a violation of the Calabasas city ordinance.


The city entered the dispute on the following Monday when an anonymous caller reported the incident. The city’s Tree Board held several hearings to resolve the matter. Carolyn Scharg said she didn’t know a tree ordinance existed that required permits to trim oak trees.


"Who is responsible for educating the public?" Scharg asked. Why weren’t there any signs, she asked, and why isn’t there a warning on the city’s Website? Scharg said she didn’t even know it was an oak tree that was trimmed. "It didn’t have acorns on it," she said. The tree that’s indigenous to California looks quite different from oak trees in Michigan, Scharg said.


If touching an oak tree can get you "fined $40,000," Scharg said, why don’t they have a better way of telling people?


The Tree Board asked the Schargs to pay $10,000 in mitigation fees. The Schargs appealed the fees to the city council and the council recently upheld the board’s decision.


Mitigation fees shouldn’t be confused with fines. Mitigation fees go toward the costs to save a tree, which might really cost $4,000 a year. Kay Greeley, arborist for the city of Calabasas, expects the tree’s recovery to take about 10 years


The $10,000 is only a fraction of the cost to repair the damages that the Schargs created, Greeley said.


The tree, according to Greeley, had a value of $71,400 before the Schargs trimmed its branches.


The survivability of the tree remains unknown, Greeley said, because she hasn’t done any tests recently to determine its overall health. Because the Schargs won’t pay the mitigation fees, she said, the Tree Board doesn’t have any funds to conduct the tests.


The tree may not survive, Seymour said. In an extreme hillside area like this one, he said, the tree’s root system helps keep the soil stable. If the tree dies as a result of the severe pruning, he said, his house along and other dwellings below could be vulnerable to a landslide. Greeley agreed.


Scharg said some of the tree branches are already encroaching near her house again. The tree is growing, she said.


The Calabasas City Council will look at this issue one more time on Sept. 4 as an item on the consent calendar, Greeley said. The item will likely be approved, she said, and officials will sign the legal documents necessary to record the decision. Afterward, the Schargs would also sign the document, agreeing to its terms, or they could continue to fight it in the courts.


The Schargs have said they wouldn’t pay $1, Greeley said. She expects the fight will continue. But unfortunately the tree might die if it’s not treated soon.


And without mitigation money, she said, the tree will remain untouched. Greeley said she’d like to redirect monies from the oak tree mitigation fund. That revenue was generated from payments from other projects and it could pay for testing to determine the tree’s health.


Scharg said she’s unsure of what she and her husband will do. "We have to take one step at a time." But she doesn’t feel at home, she said. "I feel like I’m a criminal … I’m very respectful of nature. I didn’t whack the tree for a better view … This was an accident waiting to happen."


The Schargs’ realtor never mentioned an oak tree ordinance. And the Schargs used the same gardener, she said, that was employed by the previous owner. He had previously trimmed the same tree, Scharg said.


Some people have written nasty letters, Scharg said, to the city of Calabasas saying that the Schargs should be forced to pay for the damages. But they don’t know what it was like trying to get insurance or being warned by the fire department to get the trees trimmed or else, she said. Scharg said she’d volunteer her time to notify people new to the area about the tree ordinance because right now it’s a trap "and it snapped on us."


Unfortunately, Scharg said, people have been very rude to her and her husband. "Now we’re probably going to move," she said. And then Scharg broke down into tears—"And this is our dream house."


A new priority for the Tree Board will be educating new homeowners about the Calabasas tree ordinance.


"I had suggested a couple of years ago," Greeley said, asking realtors to disclose information about the tree ordinance. "And there was kind of a general negative feeling for that because the realtors don’t want to have to be responsible for any more disclosures. But we’re going to try that again."


Greeley said the Tree Board would also continue to circulate information through Calabasas TV and newspapers.


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