Posted on 08/10/2005 10:24:55 PM PDT by Porterville
It could cost a Cambria landowner more than $100,000 to relocate more than half the 80 large palm trees he planted near the coast.
California Coastal Commission staff is reviewing a proposal to remove the trees in question.
About 50 of the trees can be seen from Highway 1. Commission planner Steve Monowitz is reviewing a proposal to relocate more than half the palms.
"Preserving the visual character of the area will be essential" in evaluating a proposal to move the non-native trees, said Monowitz.
The state panel's approval for Khosro Khaloghli's 10,000-square-foot home on 78 acres says he can only use native species in his landscaping, Monowitz said.
In late July, contractors planted the stately trees in a curving swath along the rural driveway just inland from Moonstone Beach and southeast of Exotic Gardens Road.
According to county planners, Khaloghli has proposed removing about 50 of the trees, with 20 of the palms to be replanted in the area around his estate. County planner Matt Janssen estimates the cost of that operation to be about $100,000.
Coastal Commission staff might consider giving Khaloghli an amendment to his permit, allowing him to leave the two fuller Canary Island date palms near the property's gate.
There is some precedent for palm trees at the entrances to other area ranches, but many of those palms predate the Coastal Act, are out of the coastal zone, aren't as prominent against the skyline or are not as visible from the highway.
Khaloghli said Monday he would not comment until commission staffers make their decision.
The new trees have triggered lots of comment, much of it criticizing the visual impact of the large number of trees, especially their stark contrast with the nearby native pine forest. But some locals are enthusiastic about the palms and Khaloghli's right to plant them on his own property.
"I can't understand what all the fuss and bother is about," said Hollie Stotter of Cambria. "Somebody said they look too 'Orange County.' Oh, come on. They certainly add to the ambiance.
"They may not be native, but ... there are palms over by the motels, on the ranches, on the Hearst property, all over the place. I think they look lovely."
Why would anyone with any rationality want to live in that farked up, leftist goobermint-controlled state?
Where is a 10.0 earthquake when you really need one?
Where is this abuse taking place?
OK/ Geez...
.....b..bb..bbuttttt
I thought leftists loved trees, the more the merrier! Guess you have to plant "politically correct" trees or else watch out!!!
How about going a little easy on California.
In liberal-babyboomer-hell San Luis Obispo North County
It isn't the Hearst property, it is Cambria. Cambria is a small coastal town north of Morro Bay. I live about 20 miles away (by way of the road) from Cambria.
It doesn't really matter... Cambria is going to burn down one of these years and leave very little... I don't fully understand why it hasn't already...
Well west Atascadero is mostly hilly/mountainous forest. Pretty densely packed large oaks mostly. True that it gets pretty warm in the summer but hardly "desert". Going east well...
Do you live in the area?
BTW, how can a town called Atascadero (mud hole in spanish) be desert... ;-)
I live about 2 miles from the beach.... I try to avoid SLO and never go east of the grade.... I don't care for the desert... or the oaks in the desert.... I hate it over 70 degrees.
My wife and I got married in the chapel at Harmony.
Hmm, I didn't know there was a chapel there... I might check it out sometime- it is hard to get north of Cyucous.
I thought that I would never see
Anything dumber than a tree
But then I met a California politician...
Cambria has done a fairly decent job of managing the balance between growth and community preservation. At least they have figured out that the old family ranchers in the area deserve respect. The big constraint on development is water, which is stingy on the entire coast.
My great uncle and his wife (the matriarch of my mother's side of the family) was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church there for about twenty years. When we were kids, our family used to stop over in Cambria on the way to Southern California to visit my mom's family. The parish is now split with the house being an internationalist youth hostel and the church itself as a Christian fellowship hall.
We stopped by there last year for the first time in forty years so that our kids could trace the route I so often took as a child, so of course, we drove around until we found the church. The hippies in the house/hostel were most accommodating. The old ladies in the parish still burn the coffee every Sunday. Some things don't change.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.