Published Sunday, August 18, 2002

The effort to reopen Rancho Murieta Airport to night operations continues. The airport’s owners have cut down 20 trees near the runway and trimmed others in advance of a county decision on what to do with 20 more trees on adjacent county parkland.

A group of county officials toured the site last week, picking their way through debris and tree limbs and stumps.

The group consisted of Parks Director Ronald D. Suter, Parks Deputy Director Jill Ritzman and chiefs of staff for two county supervisors -- Jane Smith, who works for Supervisor Don Nottoli, and Lyla Hanson, who works for Supervisor Illa Collin.

County officials said some of the trimming was so extreme it's unlikely the trees will survive.

The airport’s night operations permit was suspended last year by the state Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics because trees on airport and county property are in the “clear zone” next to the runway and violate Federal Aviation Administration rules. Ritzman said the airport notified her in late June that the property had been surveyed, and the airport would be cutting and trimming trees on its side of the property line within a few days. Although she has not received a copy of the airport’s survey, Ritzman said the property boundary defined by surveyor’s stakes and the cut trees seemed consistent with an aerial photograph the parks department has.

She added that the airport seemed to be within its rights when it cut down the trees. The county’s tree ordinance was not applicable, she explained, and Caltrans said the tree cutting was mandatory for night operations, so the California Environmental Quality Act, which pertains to discretionary projects like homebuilding, was also not applicable.

Ritzman visited the airport after the cutting and took pictures. The other members of the group were seeing the aftermath of the tree work for the first time last week. They agreed the pictures didn’t do the scene justice.

“It’s very sad,” commented Hanson, as she looked at the piles of branches scattered for hundreds of feet parallel to the runway. Ritzman pointed out a few oaks that had been trimmed. “You can trim trees to the height level, but they won’t survive,” she commented.

Whether the county will follow suit and remove its trees is unknown. In April, the Board of Supervisors directed the parks department to come up with a way to save as many of the trees as possible. The trees include a heritage oak that’s over 200 years old, as well as other oaks, black walnut and cottonwood trees.

Ritzman is preparing a report for the supervisors.

“There’s a lot of information, a lot of it contradictory. We’re just gathering information. We haven’t taken any action,” she said. “It’s a very difficult situation for parks. … The trees were here when the night operations permit was issued in 1990.” She said the loss of night operations had an economic impact on the airport, but pointed out the airport operated without night operations for half its existence.

The airport opened in 1970. It is privately owned by the estate of Fred Anderson, who died in 1997. Arthur J. Negrette, counsel for the airport, told the supervisors in April that there is a buyer for the property and the sale hinges on having the night operations permit.

Reached last week, Negrette said the airport's owners had no comment about the tree cutting.

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