ANTONOVICH: MOVING OAK SAFETY ISSUE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH - County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich never blinked.

For 71 days, he held firm. The ancient oak standing in the way of a planned highway in Stevenson Ranch must go. He and the county Public Works Department did look at several alternatives, but refused to budge, citing safety concerns and the need to manage traffic.

Antonovich has no regrets.

``The Stevenson Ranch Town Council members supported this project because they know that the traffic problem in the area will be addressed,'' said Antonovich, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley.

``All you can do is work with the public, and we have an effective record working with the public and being accessible, and I will continue that service as their representative at the county level.''

When tree-sitter John Quigley and his core group of supporters battled to keep the tree where it is, it became both a symbol of the area's natural heritage and some residents' feeling that planning should be more sensitive to the environment.

One side came to represent progress and the other, preservation, And neither was willing to compromise.

Department of Public Works officials said Pico Canyon Road could not be expanded to four lanes and skirt the tree because it would create a dangerous, tight curve and bring traffic too close to a cliffside.

Alternatively, if Pico Canyon remained a two-lane road, with the tree left in place, alternate roads would be overburdened.

Throughout the experience, Antonovich never vacillated in his convictions, despite being maligned by the tree-sitter's supporters who accused him of ignoring the community.

Antonovich argued that the body in place to advice him on issues in Stevenson Ranch, the town council, unanimously supported moving the tree.

He blames those who brought on the campaign for not taking part in the public hearing process and not appealing the issue during the original road approval in the early 1980s.

``What you have is an individual from West Los Angeles who was paid to sit in a tree, using it as publicity for himself, and what we've tried to do is work with the residents of the community to meet their need for safe roads while protecting the environment,'' Antonovich said.

Quigley wasn't paid a salary to sit in the tree, but his supporters helped cover some of his expenses.

Antonovich's staff cited his record on preserving the environment, including the Oak Tree Preservation Ordinance he initiated in 1982 to enforce strict guidelines for minimizing the loss of trees and requiring that new trees be planted.

County officials also lauded his efforts to expand the trail system in the county, dedicating an open space preserve between the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys, and to help in the fight to block a gravel mine near Canyon Country and the expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill south of Santa Clarita.

``It bothers me because the county aggressively worked to preserve 14 of 15 trees by realigning that road, and now we have the ability to save the 15th by moving it an eighth of a mile to a park, while maintaining a safe roadway,'' Antonovich said.

Developer Bill Rattazzi, who got a crash course in politics and media relations during the recent tree-sitting incident, maintained that he bought the approved tract map from Lennar Homes and was simply trying to meet the county's conditions for the project by widening Pico Canyon Road.

``Personally, I think from a business sense, we feel our company has been maligned for no real reason,' said Rattazzi, president of John Laing Homes, which will pay $400,000 to move the tree. ``We feel we've continually tried to do the right thing, but it was a tough set of circumstances.''

Throughout the 10-week-long experience, Rattazzi found himself in the midst of a media maelstrom and the target of threats, all because the group that staged the tree-sitting campaign failed to protest when the county planned the road widening.

``Unfortunately, part of this ... organization that led this protest had an agreement that they clearly defaulted on and decided to take matters into their own hands when three years had lapsed,'' Rattazzi said.

He was referring to an agreement signed by the grass-roots Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment and Laing officials in November 1999 that said the developer would redesign the road-widening project to save the oak.

``That's why we've had the last 76 days and we're going to spend an incredible amount of money to move the tree when we could have used that money for other things in the community,'' Rattazzi said.

A judge sided with the developer, commending Laing Homes for going above and beyond what was required in negotiating with Quigley, and ordered the tree-sitter to vacate the old oak.