House Of Pies Developer Could Be Fined By City For Tree Removal

The Los Angeles Police Department And Other Agencies Would Levy The Fines.

By Zach Armstrong

The Venice Neighborhood Council could potentially request the City of Los Angeles enforce agencies to levy fines against the developer of The House of Pies for removing trees on public property.

Under the motion, included in the council’s most recent meeting agenda, the Department of Public Works, the Department of Building and Safety, the Coastal Commission, the Los Angeles Police Department and the County Sheriff would levy the fines sufficient to replace the trees. The owner and developer’s certificate of occupancy and building permits could also be withheld until new trees are planted.

“These trees were 30 years old, of substantial size and installed and watered by the Venice community members in conjunction with the City, State and non profits organizations including Tree People with our tax dollars and grant funding.” the agenda item stated.

It is not immediately clear what the total of the fines may be.

This comes as the developer is under speculation of being responsible for removing sycamore trees located on a public right-ofway sidewalk along Venice Boulevard where a new House of Pies is being constructed. The trees could not legally be trimmed without a permit.

The council canceled its May 16 meeting, postponing actions to June 20 when the motion will presumably be heard.

How do you specifically look to accomplish that in your upcoming role?

It really comes down to listening to people, making sure people feel heard, making sure all these different points of view are presented to us. Then having intelligent, constructive conversations about the issues. Then coming up with some sort of middle ground that makes sense to everybody, even if everyone’s not happy with whatever motions we’re passing, at least they feel heard, and at least they understand the other side of the equation.

How has Venice changed since you’ve been here? And how do you hope that it will look in the future?

In the future, I want it to be more of a real community. Like I said, there’s many different facets and types of people that make up what makes it so great, in my opinion. So just to listen, and to respect all of those different sides of that. We also have an incredibly rich cultural history here. I think that needs to be emphasized a little bit more. And it’s in our favor to preserve that stuff.

What’s getting in the way of accomplishing that?

The issues that are dividing the community. Obviously, our big issues right now are homelessness and crime. And, understandably, those get a lot of attention. And they deserve a lot of attention because they’re very serious. But I think it’s also okay to remember what makes us so incredible. Being a multicultural community that blossomed into this neighborhood that most of us love.