Historic oak trees chopped down in Sacramento delta community: "A sad day in Freeport"
FREEPORT - The tiny delta community of Freeport wants answers after about 20 historic oak trees were cut down in the middle of the night.
"It is like a graveyard of beautiful victory trees that provided us shade and made Freeport the community that it is," said Anna Swenson, a community outreach coordinator in the delta.
What is now Highway 160 was once known as the Victory Highway. The oak trees were planted to honor fallen World War I soldiers.
"Last night, I asked for a copy of the permit that I think they would need to have on the site to do the construction. Nobody seemed to provide anything," Swenson said Monday.
Swenson was out there on Sunday night from 11 p.m. until around 1:30 a.m. watching the chainsaws take down the oak trees.
"We just don't understand why there wasn't more notice or collaboration with the people who live here," Swenson said.
The removal of any oak tree in California requires a permit. A local arborist told CBS13 that if the tree is on Sacramento city land, there must be a 10-day public appeal process. We are told this land is the city's.
CBS13 reached out to the city and developer KB Homes to get an answer on whether a permit was issued and if this process happened. The city said the permit was approved on Nov. 3 and was posted online to notify the public.
The city said Trees of Sacramento filed an appeal on Nov. 20, contesting 40 privately protected trees. A public hearing was then held at the end of January to review the permit application.
The city said testimony and evidence confirmed the permit met the criteria. The hearing examiner affirmed the denial of the appeal on March 6.
"How would you feel if just all of a sudden your shade tree was gone?" said Tony Morabito, who lives across the street from where the historic trees were removed.
Morabito said he and other neighbors had spoken with the city in the past that said these oaks would stay untouched during the Delta Shores Development.
At the end of January, one of the oak trees was removed in the middle of the night. Swenson said they called the police and tried to verify the crews had a permit. She did not know more trees were on the chopping list.
"Even if you replant trees, you are never going to get an oak like that for a very, very long time," Swenson said.
On Monday, birds were perched in the broken branches of what once was a tunnel of trees. The trees were removed just months after CBS13 reported how the community there was trying to restore its history amid urban development.
"Why? Why would you cut down beautiful oak trees for brand new urban sprawl?" Swenson said. "It is really a sad day here in Freeport."