At the request of Supervisor Jerry Muenzer, the county board is set to weigh an urgency ordinance to halt cutting down of protected trees, a move in response to recent quarreling between Ridgemark Golf & Country Club and neighboring homeowners.
County supervisors will consider 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 would affect trees of eight inches or greater in diameter. The meeting is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the County Administration Building, 481 Fourth St.
Action from the board would come 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.
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. Tobias added that homeowners must post a bond valued at $1 million on or before Oct. 16 to keep the injunction in place through the end of the month.
The bond is meant to cover the cost of accidents if one of the trees protected in the restraining order falls on a person or house. The attorney representing the Ridgemark Homes Association, Bradley Matteoni, agreed to ask the homeowners if they’d be willing to post the bond. JMK’s attorney, John Richards, argued the judge’s proposed $1 million bond was not high enough.
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.
