Ventura County Grand Jury • 2012-2013

Oak Trees Replacement in Thousand Oaks

Published: April 15, 2013 9 pages
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Findings 17 findings

F01
The private citizens of the City are required to follow the City’s permitting process when they cut, remove or edit an oak tree. (FA-01-04)
F02
The private citizens of the City are required to replace two oak trees for every one removed. (FA-05)
F03
The City is exempted from obtaining permits, when remediation is required for public safety purposes. (FA-06)
F04
The Grand Jury found that the private property owner is required to have a final inspection and sign-off for an oak tree permit, but the City does not. (FA-05-06)
F05
The Grand Jury found that the City has an undocumented practice of planting replacement oak trees away from the removal site(s) and provided replacement trees to the CRPD. (FA-07, 08)
F06
The Grand Jury found that Lang Ranch Dam, the Knolls Apartment site, the Thousand Oaks Library, Teen and Senior Centers, the Children’s Library extension and the Conejo Creek Park projects required the removal of 128 oak trees. (FA-09-14)
F07
The Grand Jury found no report or documentation of two-to-one replacement of oak trees removed by the City, as required of private property owners. (FA-13-15)
F08
The Grand Jury found that in April, 2010, the City Council modified an ordinance that allows private property owners to remove an oak tree if they can document the original planting of the tree. (FA-16-17) Recommendations
F09
The Thousand Oaks Library, the Teen Center and the Senior Center projects were planned and permitted in October, 1987. One oak tree was relocated. The City did not provide a record of this action. [Ref-11]
F10
Improvements to Conejo Creek Park included the removal of four healthy, one hazardous and three dead oak trees plus the encroachment of six additional oak trees. [Ref-06]
F11
The requirement for the Conejo Creek Park Project was that for every live oak tree removed, two twenty–four inch boxes and one thirty-six inch box of Quercus Lobata or Quercus Agrifolia would replace them. One fifteen gallon sized Quercus Lobata or Quercus Agrifolia should replace each dead oak tree that was removed from the site. The City did not provide documentation for this action. [Ref-06, 08, 11]
F12
A fallen oak tree was removed from the north side of East Janss Road in May, 1995. There is no documentation provided by the City to verify that this tree was replaced. The replacement oak tree “. . . shall be replaced with one fifteen gallon Quercus Lobata (Valley Oak) or Quercus Agrifolia (Coast Live Oak)”. [Ref-08, 11]
F13
In April, 2004, the Children’s Library Expansion encroached on eight oak trees. [Ref-11]
F14
Thirty-nine oak trees were removed and seven were relocated from the Knolls Apartment site. At the end of construction there was a total of fifty-seven oak trees removed. There is no documentation provided by the City to verify removal and replacement of these trees. [Ref-03, 11]
F15
In February, 2006, an oak tree fell at the Knolls Apartment complex. It was to be replaced with one minimum sixty-gallon box Quercus Agrifolia replacement tree planted in the same location as the fallen tree within thirty days. The tree was replaced, however, there is no documentation provided by the City to verify this. [Ref-03, 11] Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks 3
F16
City ordinance 1534NS, effective 4/08/10, allows residents to apply to the City to determine if the oak tree on their property is native or owner- planted. Using the age of the tree, landscape plans filed with the City and aerial photographs that go back to 1976, the City makes a determination that a tree is owner-planted or not.
F17
If the City determines that an oak tree is owner-planted, it is thereby exempted by code. [Ref-01] Findings

Recommendations 1

Commendations 2

Agency Responses 5

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.