BUY HOUSE, PLANT TREE IT'S NOW THE LAW FOR COUNTY DEVELOPMENTS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - During the Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on a promise of a chicken in every pot. In these boom times, county Supervisor Michael Antonovich guarantees a tree in every new front yard.

Under a new Los Angeles County ordinance, developers must give home buyers a tree to plant in their yards. The effort is designed to add a little green to the rather bleak-looking rows of tract homes sprouting up in the Santa Clarita Valley and other growing areas.

``This is going to be a mandate,'' said Conal McNamara, an Antonovich aide. ``When you buy your house, they put a tree in or give you credit. The mechanics will be worked out with the developer.''

What kind of tree comes free with a $300,000 house is up to the property owner and the developer, McNamara said. The government will keep out of it.

``We don't want to dictate that everyone has a pepper tree,'' he said. And while builders have balked at high-priced fees to build roads, schools, libraries and other public facilities, they went out on a limb to support the new tree law.

``There was no opposition,'' McNamara said. ``In fact, it was supported by the (Building Industry Association). The developers recognized the need for more landscaping in their subdivisions.''

Bill Ratazzi, a partner in SunCal Development, which is building the Tesoro Del Valle project north of Santa Clarita, said he is reluctant to add to the price of a home, but is generally pleased with the ordinance.

``I always get concerned because ultimately home buyers pay for it, but the concept is great,'' he said. ``I'm all for retreeing the world.''

The new rule is an amendment to the county's existing tree protection ordinance, which, among other things, helps conserve native oaks, said Pamela Holt of the county Department of Regional Planning.

The tree-in-every-yard rule goes beyond a policy that requires the county to plant and maintain trees on public rights-of-way in new subdivisions.

``The supervisor felt that wasn't enough,'' Holt said. ``We do require (it on the) street but this is to be put in the yard of every home - let the people put it anywhere in the front yard.

Planning officials and the county forester might have some input on the species of trees planted in some neighborhoods.

Antonovich was inspired to legislate landscaping after noting the need for green in large new tracts, particular the Santa Clarita Valley, Holt said.

``All those new tracts, they look so barren in the first year or two,'' she said.