Del Mar Torrey pine headed for pruning suffers big limb break

Owners of an endangered Torrey pine have hired a lawyer to try to save the tree, which the city of Del Mar says must be removed.

It's the latest move in a battle that officially began in 2021 over trees the neighbors have long considered a curtain across their ocean views.

While Del Mar has an ordinance protecting Torrey pines, among the rarest pines in the world, it also has one that guards private property views.

Neighbors who live behind the Ocean View Avenue property owned by Harvey and Sheryl White filed a Trees, Scenic Views and Sunlight application, asking the city to help restore their views.

The Planning Commission agreed that five of the trees pose an unreasonable obstruction, and worked with the owners to carve out a 5-year pruning plan that would reduce the largest tree by 40 percent and the others by 20 percent.

Three days later, a limb broke off the biggest tree, effectively reducing its live foliage by 40 percent - but not in the right place to open up the eclipsed view. The neighbors, Michael and Angela Deftos, appealed the pruning plan, saying the limb break needed to be considered.

An arborist for the Deftos said 90 percent of the tree's foliage would have to be removed to restore views, while the Whites' arborist said pruning this trimming cycle could harm the tree.

There's only one way to restore the view fully, as the Deftos see it: remove the tree. At a meeting on November 14, the city council agreed, with Mayor Dwight Worden and council member Dave Druker opposed.

"I disagree immensely - the decision to remove a protected tree," Druker said. "I believe we have made an incorrect decision."

Last week, an attorney for the Whites told the city there was no notice of the possibility that the city would suggest removing the tree.

"It is absolutely necessary for the city to re-open the matter in full," said attorney Scott Williams, calling for a new public hearing. An environmental review is needed, he added. "The CEQA exemption simply does not apply to removal of a healthy mature tree."

Despite being one of the most critically endangered pines in the world, Torrey pines receive no federal protection. Threatened by the loss of genetic diversity, beetles, and climate change, they grow naturally only on a sliver of San Diego coastline and on Santa Rosa Island.