CITY VOTES 3-2 TO PUSHTO SAVE OAK BUILDER 'WON'T WAIT FOREVER'.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A split Santa Clarita City Council voted Tuesday to ask Los Angeles County officials to spare a 400-year-old oak tree that is slated to be chopped down to expand the main thoroughfare in Stevenson Ranch.

City officials will arrange a meeting among the developers, county officials and local environmental groups in the hopes that the majestic tree, which is among the oldest in the Santa Clarita Valley, can be saved.

``If Los Angeles County says no, we need to figure out a way to say yes,'' Councilwoman Marsha McLean said.

McLean voted with Councilwoman Laurene Weste and Councilman Bob Kellar to urge county officials to find a way to save the tree, even if that requires the ultimate size of the road to be reduced.

``It's not in anyone's best interests to decimate Pico Canyon,'' Weste said. ``We need to think outside the box.''

Mayor Frank Ferry and Councilman Cameron Smyth dissented, arguing that it would be foolhardy to narrow the road in order to save the oak tree when more than 20,000 homes are expected to be built west of the Golden State (5) Freeway over the next decade.

If Pico Canyon Road, which will eventually connect to state Route 126 to provide an alternate route to I-5, is not expanded to four lanes, gridlock will become the norm in the rapidly developing area west of the freeway, the council members agreed.

``There is no question that the oak is beautiful,'' Smyth said. ``But the amount of traffic that will end up on our streets will be unbearable.''

Fifth District County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich is awaiting a report from the county Department of Public Works before taking a position on whether the road should be kept at two lanes to save the tree, according to his deputy, Conal McNamara.

Desperate to prevent the oak tree from being chopped down, John Quigley, an environmental activist, has been sitting in the tree since Friday and has vowed to stay until a deal is hammered out. Down below, environmentalists have held daily rallies urging passing motorists to help save the tree at Whispering Oak Avenue.

``This tree is an emotional issue,'' said Nina Rettke, who lives nearby. ``I want my children's children to see this tree.''

Bill Ratazzi, division president of John Laing Homes, the builder of the Southern Oaks 279-home subdivision said he hoped a solution could be reached and promised to wait ``a reasonable amount of time'' before uprooting the tree.

The housing development cannot be completed until Pico Canyon Road, which has been under construction for months, is expanded to four lanes. That is tying up $7 million in road improvement bonds, Ratazzi said.

``I'm won't wait forever,'' Ratazzi said. ``And it's going to be sooner rather than later.''