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SLO County supervisors approve oak tree ordinance

April 12, 2017

Deforestation by Justin Vineyards

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has unanimously adopted a permanent ordinance aimed at deterring clear-cutting of oak trees.

Last year, the board of supervisors adopted an emergency oak tree removal ordinance in response to community outrage over Justin Vineyards clear-cutting oaks. Aerial images showed Justin Vineyards had cut down thousands of oak trees from properties it purchased in the North County. The clear-cutting took place in the period since billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick bought Justin Vineyards in 2010.

Last summer, the supervisors voted to extend the urgency ordinance. The permanent ordinance then came under consideration at a board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday.

Under the newly adopted ordinance, property owners cannot remove more than one continuous acre of oak trees without obtaining permission from county planners

If a property owner submits a management plan and it is approved by the county, they can then remove up to 5 percent of the trees on their land.

To remove more than three acres of oaks in order to plant crops, the landowner must obtain a conditional use permit.

During Tuesday’s meeting, landowners expressed concerns about property rights and fire protection, as well as being able to cut down certain trees to make room for new ones. The board agreed to eliminate a proposal that would have prohibited property owners from removing more than 5 percent of their trees in order to clear room for new trees.


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It’s not just the trees, we have been in the midst of a drought and planting grape vines definitely will exacerbate water problems in the future. Grape vines penetrate deep into the water table. Cant be any good for wild life either,


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It is so disgusting when thief’s like the Resnick’s come in and do what they damn well want and then all the locals here for decades have changes made to their life, property and resources because they nasty ugly people of entitlement think they have more money and therefore more rights than the serfs. They don’t give a damn or love the land, labor or success of the little people, just ask the people of Fiji, only the money they make along their trail!


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Too little…to late.


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Now that the trees are safe and the animals are going to have a multi-million dollar facility, will anybody help the homeless humans of Slo County?


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You know you’re a charmer when you think it’s ok to cut down large swaths of native forest.


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While not condoning what was done at Justin, it does make a person think about “whats next on the government’s list of control issues”.


Do property rights mean anything these days?


I have an old oak tree on my property and the City, unbeknownst to me, designated it a Heritage Tree. I am not allowed to shape it, trim it, or basically do anything to it without the city arborist’s permission.


However, when the damn thing nearly died a few years back from defoliation due to moths/worms, her response when called was that it was up to me to pay someone to come out and spray it to keep it healthy – I paid $1,500 to have it sprayed.


In my opinion, if the City wants total control over my tree they can pay up or shut up.


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And still Stewart and Lynda Resnick are trying to control Paso area’s water


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Insert “steal” instead of “control”, that works too.


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