Definitely what Los Angeles needs is more driveways and fewer street trees, and so benevolent McMansion builders and owners are tearing out the latter all over town so they can put it in the former, according to some concerned LA City Councilmembers. According to a new motion, about 2,000 street trees are ripped out every year for various reasons, from storm damage to disease to the construction of big-ass new houses. At a City Council hearing yesterday, a member of the city's Community Forest Advisory Committee said that some builders are putting in double driveways "where one used to be sufficient," reports the Daily News, meaning more trees are losing out to big swaths of concrete.
The motion, introduced by Councilmember Paul Krekorian, asks the relevant city departments to look into creating new policies that "require plans to be redesigned to relocate" new driveways if there's any possible alternative, to avoid taking out street trees. It also asks for clarification on existing tree-replacement policies and increased penalties for people who take out trees without permits.
The city is doing what it can about McMansions, meanwhile; it put new, temporary requirements in place this past spring that limit how big people can build in several neighborhoods around Los Angeles.
· Trees at risk amid Los Angeles' McMansion boom, city leaders say [LADN]
· Here Are the Anti-Mansion Rules Coming to 15 LA 'Hoods [Curbed LA]