Unknown suspects illegally removed 85, 15-gallon queen palm trees from the Malibu High School Campus on Jan. 31, according to a report filed by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District with the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. The location of the trees and the suspects who uprooted them remain unknown.
The trees were planted last Thanksgiving by community volunteers of The Shark Fund, Malibu High school’s umbrella fundraising organization. Neighboring residents opposed the trees out of concerns that they would potentially impact view corridors and jeopardize fire safety. The residents met with members of the school district who agreed to explore cost effective remedies to the residents’ concerns. Such remedies included moving the trees to another school campus within the district.
Before any remedy could be found and agreed upon, without the permission of the SMMUSD, unknown suspects hired a landscaping crew to remove the palm trees located near The Boys and Girls Club and the physical education black top on the school’s campus, according to a Sheriff’s deputy report. The trees are valued at more than $10,000.
“Our information indicates that several individuals in two white trucks came to campus, removed the trees and filled the holes,” Malibu High School Principal Mark Kelly wrote in a letter addressed to the community. “I checked with our district office staff who reported that they had not authorized anyone to remove the trees.”
Kelly also wrote he is currently working with the district to explore ways to recapture some of the financial loss.
Local resident Cindy Vandor expressed relief at the removal of the palms last week through a letter addressed to The Malibu Times. “A fire threat at Malibu High School was removed this past weekend and I would like to publicly praise and thank all those responsible,” Vandor wrote. “Seventy-plus palm trees had been planted below the football field and tennis courts. They were a terrible fire hazard. Also, these were the type of palms that would have grown up to 50 feet tall and that would have devalued views.”
Vandor wrote that other fire-prone communities are banning new plantings of palm trees. She thanked the “Gardening Angels” and The Shark Fund for their efforts to beautify Malibu High School and expressed the need for it to be done “safely.”
In a letter this week to The Malibu Times, resident Mary Hughes-O’Leary called the removal of the palms a “heinous act,” and said that district representatives had agreed to attempt to resolve residents’ complaints but were not given adequate time to do so.
“The issue of view corridor protection and fire safety is the subject of much debate,” Hughes-O’Leary wrote. “The matter was resolved, it appears, with the use of force and with no regard for laws or ethics or community. And definitely without regard for the efforts of all the parent volunteers and those whose dollars were donated to the cause of beautifying the grounds at Malibu High School.”
The school district encourages individuals with any information to contact the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriffs’ Department.