County supervisors Tuesday approved a 45-day moratorium that bans the cutting down of mature trees – a move in response to quarreling between homeowners and owners of Ridgemark golf club.
Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of the moratorium. Supervisors Jerry Muenzer, Anthony Botelho, Robert Rivas and Jaime De La Cruz supported it, while Margie Barrios was against it.
At the request of Muenzer, running for reelection on the November ballot, the county board weighed the urgency ordinance to halt cutting down of protected trees.
County supervisors considered an urgency ordinance for a moratorium on cutting down of protected trees “to protect and preserve mature trees in the urban area” of the county, according to the staff report on the matter. The moratorium will affect trees of eight inches or greater in diameter in residential or multi-unit zones.
If someone illegally cuts a mature tree during the moratorium, they can be fined for the action under an infraction.
Action from the board came in the wake of a court decision as well. A court hearing Oct. 9 about tree removal at Ridgemark ended in a temporary restraining order and a request to post a $1 million bond.
County supervisors heard from many Ridgemark homeowners, along with the club owners, before making a decision.
Ridgemark owner John Kehriotis said he has been losing $50,000 to $80,000 a month and that a customer boycott as of late doesn’t help.
“If golfers don’t want to come play golf, homeowners don’t want to come to the restaurant and support it, we’ll close down,” Kehriotis said.
Area resident Patty Spears, however, questioned why certain areas of the grounds are lush such as the driving range.
“I wonder why that is,” she said. “I have seen perfectly healthy trees taken down.”
The Ridgemark Homes Association filed a lawsuit in April against JMK Golf LLC – the company that acquired the Ridgemark Golf & Country Club golf course in the spring of 2009 – asking for a restraining order that would keep the company from cutting down trees on the golf course in front of their houses. The 125 trees in question fall in the fallow part of the golf course, which employees stopped watering in July when Ridgemark closed some of its fairways and moved from a 36-hole course to an 18-hole facility.
The afternoon of Oct. 9, the judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding JMK to trim or cut down any standing tree on the fallow portion of the golf course. Homeowners had to post a bond valued at $1 million before Oct. 16 to keep the injunction in place through the end of the month. An “order to show cause” hearing – meaning one or both parties will justify the reason they want an ongoing restraining order – will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 30 at the San Benito County Courthouse.
