Council seeks input on trees

CITY HALL — Change to Glendale’s much-maligned Indigenous Tree Ordinance was delayed Tuesday night after a cautious City Council, still reeling from weeks of widespread criticism over the amount of recent tree-trimming fines, directed staff to hold a series of public input meetings instead.

Citing the level of public involvement that town hall meetings elicited for hillside development and Montrose Shopping Park guidelines, Councilman John Drayman said he was unwilling to back any changes to the tree ordinance without first getting comprehensive input from the public on what those changes should be.

“I don’t think there’s a huge rush to do this wrong, again,” he said.

The more than $500,000 in tree-trimming fines that the ordinance has borne onto a handful of homeowners has itself produced hundreds of angry e-mails and phone calls to City Council members who, in turn, have moved quickly to re-evaluate its imprint on residents.

The criticism has been so persistent that on Tuesday Mayor Ara Najarian broached the idea of scrapping the ordinance altogether.

Of the hundreds of calls and e-mails he received, the vast majority were from residents who criticized the tree ordinance as being an extreme intrusion on property owners’ rights, Najarian said.

“With that in mind, I’m looking to repeal the ordinance as is,” he said.

But the majority of the council was unwilling to drop the tree protections entirely, instead preferring to hear from the community on how to amend the ordinance.

“We tried to do the right thing, but I think it’d be better if we do take this on the road,” Councilman Bob Yousefian said.

Acting on a groundswell of community support, the City Council in March voted to toughen the tree ordinance with a fine determination formula that essentially calculates the diminished value of a damaged tree and then doubles it.

In September, that formula produced a $347,600 fine for Ann and Mike Collard and a $170,000 fine for John Oppenheim, after city arborists determined the Glendale residents illegally pruned protected trees without a permit.

The Collards’ fine has since been rescinded following intense public outcry, and City Atty. Scott Howard on Tuesday said his office planned to meet with Oppenheim before the end of the week with a much more “appropriate” amount.

“The assessment he has is harsh,” Howard said. “It is extreme.”