Appeals
Court Orders Stay in Ficus Tree Case |
By Jorge Casuso
March 7 -- A Los Angeles Appeals Court Friday ordered
the City to halt plans to remove 54 ficus trees in Downtown Santa
Monica and reply to an appeal filed by Treesavers Thursday afternoon.
The decision by the Second Appellate District Court to reinstate
a temporary restraining order issued in October 2007 comes one week
after a Superior Court judge denied the group’s request for
a preliminary injunction and lifted the order.
“It’s extraordinarily difficult to get a stay order
granted,” said Tom Nitti, Treesavers’ attorney. “It’s
a one in 99 shot, so we’re real happy with that. It is very,
very hard to win one of these.”
While City officials said Friday’s ruling was unexpected,
they are confident the City will prevail in the case.
“I expect (the decision) will be short-lived,” said
Assistant City Attorney Joe Lawrence. “The court acted to
hold everything in place while it makes up its mind what to do next.
It was a defensive decision.”
“We are following this Court order and we expect to prevail,"
said City Manager Lamont Ewell. "The facts have not changed
and delay is costing the taxpayers."
The stay will give the court time to weigh the Treesavers’
contention that the grassroots group filed its case within 180 days
of the City Council’s decision to exempt the ficus trees along
2nd and 4th streets from environmental review.
The City, the court wrote, “is hearby ordered not to remove
or cause to be removed any ficus trees that are located on Second
Street and on Fourth Street” that are part of an $8.2 million
streetscape improvement project.
The City has until March 21 to file a preliminary response to the
Treesavers’ petition. The group then has one week to file
a response.
“I expect to file something next week and the week after
that as well,” Lawrence said.
The court will then likely either hold a hearing or render a decision
based on the briefs filed in the case, Nitti said. It can also send
the case back to the trial judge for further hearings, he said.
Last Thursday, Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones ruled that the
Treesavers' arguments that the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) has a special category that explicitly states that trees
should not be exempted from environmental review were moot because
the case was not filed within the statute of limitations.
Jones ruled that the 180-day filing period began in October 2005,
when the City Council first deemed the trees were exempt from CEQA.
Nitti contends that the statute of limitations began when the council
voted last August on the contract for the streetscape project, which
includes removing the trees.
The City, Nitti argues, should not have defined the trees as small
government facilities similar to a parking lot booth or curb cut,
which can be exempted from CEQA review. In fact, CEQA has a special
category that explicitly states that trees should not be exempted
from the environmental process, he said.
Lawrence disagrees.
“I’m sure that the court is going to agree that in
regards to CEQA, the law is pretty clear that the City has done
everything and then some,” he said. “Now, it’s
more a political dispute than a legal dispute.”
Treesavers hailed Friday’s decision.
“I’m extremely happy that the court did the right thing,”
said Jerry Rubin, the group’s leader. “Treesavers will
continue to do everything, legally, politically and diplomatically
to achieve a win-win solution and save the trees.”
City officials, who have vowed to move forward with the plan, have
been negotiating with State and Federal agencies funding the project
in an effort to ensure the streetscape project stays on track.
The improvement project covers eight Downtown blocks and includes
installing 139 new Ginkgo trees, removing 54 existing ficus trees,
adding decorative up-lighting to the remaining ficus trees and repairing
sidewalks or curbs damaged by the trees.
Under the plan, 23 ficus trees deemed by the City arborist and
two independent consultants to be "structurally unstable"
will be cut down and 31 others will be relocated, 12 of them to
the project area, City officials said.
The project also calls for enlarging tree wells, installing new
pedestrian lighting to illuminate sidewalk areas, enhancing six
mid-block crosswalks and adding accessibility improvements for the
handicapped.
Treesavers, which has threatened to engage in acts of civil disobedience,
says the group does not oppose the overall project, only the removal
of the trees.
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