The first person to run afoul of Woodside’s tree ordinance is none other than Donald G. Fisher, founder and chairman of Gap, Inc.
Mr. Fisher appealed to the Town Council for relief from a $22,500 fine incurred for moving three large oak trees from his property on Mountain Home Road. Destroying or removing significant trees requires a permit from the town, but Mr. Fisher said he didn’t kill the trees, he merely hired a company to dig them up and truck them to his property in Atherton, where he replanted them.
There was a gap in the landscaping in Atherton that only a trio of really nice, large oaks could fill, he said, and he couldn’t find any for sale.
But lest anyone fear that the fortunes of an influential Bay Area billionaire suddenly tumbled, Mr. Fisher is not fighting the fine because he can’t afford it. He told the council at its Oct. 23 meeting that he was appealing the fine because he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong. A tree company charged him $36,000 to move the trees, and said it would be no problem, Mr. Fisher said.
“They told me (Larry) Ellison had done this with tons of trees on his property,” Mr. Fisher said.
Woodside’s tree preservation ordinance went into effect at the beginning of the year. It limits the circumstances under which property owners can remove trees and imposes fines on anyone who flouts the law. “Complete extraction” is one of several methods of killing a tree listed under the definition of “tree destruction” in the ordinance.
“In my six years in Woodside, I’ve never seen this before,” said Planning Director Hope Sullivan, adding that when a large tree is moved, it’s usually to another location on the same piece of property and that it’s part of a larger building project that receives prior approval from the town. Mr. Ellison’s project predated the tree ordinance, she said.
Council members, faced with an unanticipated situation, struggled to find a way to let Mr. Fisher off the hook for what seemed an honest misunderstanding, but at the same time, they didn’t want to undercut the new tree ordinance. Most of the council agreed that the point of the ordinance was not just to keep trees alive, but also to keep them in the town of Woodside.
Councilman Pete Sinclair’s option of employing “the wisdom of Solomon” and cutting Mr. Fisher’s fine in half didn’t muster enough support to pass.
Councilman Ron Romines argued that Mr. Fisher committed an inadvertent violation. “This is a violation of the letter of the ordinance, but not the spirit,” he said.
Mr. Romines’ idea of suspending the fine, which would be reinstated if Mr. Fisher removes any more trees or violates the ordinance again, passed on a 6-1 vote, with Mr. Sinclair opposed.
“It sounds like Scooter Libby,” Mr. Sinclair said about the suspended fine. “You’re guilty, but you’re not going to jail.”
