FAQ

On Friday September 11th it was noticed by members of the local community that the Beaches & Harbors Department of Los Angeles County was felling Coral trees at Aubrey Austin Park.  The local community was not aware of any planned tree removal and reacted quickly to halt the action.  The works were being performed on a day that Beaches & Harbors was closed!

A concerned group of members of the public (‘group’) are communicating with Beaches & Harbors to establish the facts leading up to the plan to remove the trees.  A considerable amount of research into the process around tree maintenance and felling has been undertaken by the group, which has only raised further questions about the plan.  The group thought it wise to hire an independent ISA Certified Arborist to conduct a survey of the Coral trees in question to provide an independent opinion on the current state of the trees and whether the current plan for the trees was appropriate.  The survey has been performed and the results are posted on this site and have been delivered to Beaches & Harbors. 

There are considerable discrepancies between this independent report and the arborist report commissioned by the Department of Beaches & Harbors. The independent arborist report indicates that there is no justified reason for the Department to have cut down and continue to cut down the coral trees on their removal list.

There is one tree that the independent arborist says should be removed, but ironically it has not been identified by the Department as an issue.

  • The group believes that the trees have not been maintained as per A300 pruning standards (ISA & ANSI).
  • The group believes that County policy regarding emergency tree removals has been breached. The County’s contracted certified arborist did not determine that an immediate or imminent health and safety issue existed, but nevertheless DBH authorised the removal of tree VM-33 as a health and safety issue during nesting season, thus appearing to breach Tree Management Policies 23 & 34 of the Marina del Rey Local Coastal Program.
  • The group believes that the severance of tree roots by Marina Maintenance to ‘restore’ a section of concrete path was not done with appropriate oversight.
  • Beaches & Harbors has allowed the destructive pruning practices, ‘Heading’ and ‘Topping’, these are prohibited according to county tree pruning standards.
  • One of the trees scheduled for removal has not been associated with any current problem in the report provided by Beaches & Harbors’ own arborist.
  • Members of the group have received documentation requested from Beaches & Harbors under the California Public Records Act that contains information which is at odds with details provided on the Department’s web site. We consider this unacceptable.
  • We have asked Beaches & Harbors to stop their action and to not fell any further trees.
  • We have asked Beaches & Harbors to implement a public tree removal notification process such as the one employed in the City of Santa Monica.  This will provide public scrutiny of this and any similar further action.
  • We will react appropriately to the report of the independent arborist that the group has employed as it does not square with the current plan 
  • We will continue to disseminate information on this action to all interested parties.
  • We will encourage the offices of Mike Bonin and Janice Hahn to ask Beaches & Harbors to listen to their constituents concerns regarding this matter and to provide accurate information to members of the public with respect to their relevant plans.
  • Please sign up here.  We will keep you updated with progress and invite you to any events planned to protect the trees.
  • Please could you email the following and indicate your objection to the felling action:

Gary Jones, Director of Beaches & Harbors:  gjones@bh.lacounty.gov

Mike Tripp, Planning Division Chief at Beaches & Harbors:  mtripp@bh.lacounty.gov

Mike Bonin (City Council):  councilmember.bonin@lacity.org

Janice Hahn (Mayor of the Marina proper): FourthDistrict@bos.lacounty.gov

Sheila Kuehl (Mayor of Venice; the Marina Peninsula): sheila@bos.lacounty.gov

  • And Tweet / Tag on Instagram:

Beaches & Harbors: @lacdbh

Mike Bonin: @MikeBoninLA

Janice Hahn: @SupJaniceHahn

Sheila Kuehl: @sheilakuehl

  • Please let us know if you have a useful expertise in this area of public administration.