Trees Trump Rules

Jun 23, 12:06 AM

Current Headlines: By NICK GREEN

In the latest act of defiance at Donald Trump's bluff-top golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, hundreds of ficus trees have been planted without city permission.

That has some neighboring residents miffed because the trees have impaired ocean and golf course views from their multimillion-dollar homes.

And city officials are fuming because this is not the first time The Trump Organization, which owns Trump National Golf Club, has performed work at the coastal course without the required permits.

Past indiscretions have included illegally erecting a 70-foot- high flagpole, building a tee 8 feet higher than allowed and putting up freeway signs directing motorists to the course without permission from the state Department of Transportation.

So this latest unauthorized move is, one might say, par for the course.

"I laughed out loud -- maybe I shouldn't have -- it's either laugh or cry," said Councilman Doug Stern when he heard about it. "It seems like this is a cultural trait within their organization."

The billionaire real estate mogul and reality television star downplayed his latest run-in with the municipal bureaucracy in the affluent Palos Verdes Peninsula.

"It was done for two purposes: beautification and safety," Trump said of the trees. "They're bushes -- they look beautiful and everybody loves them. We have not had one complaint."

Perhaps that's because residents have complained to the city rather than The Trump Organization.

"This is a very tenuous situation," said Jessica Leeds, vice president of the Portuguese Bend Club East Homeowners Association. "Some of us at the Portuguese Bend Club are displeased that these trees have ended up there."

The trees -- about 45 that are about 12 feet tall and an additional 300 about 6 feet tall, planted in two rows -- are designed to screen the driving range from the homes.

They were planted for the nationally televised Michael Douglas & Friends celebrity golf tournament held April 29 to provide a green backdrop for television cameras.

View quality is a touchy issue in a largely residential community that sits on a hill overlooking the ocean.

Views -- or the lack thereof -- are often a major factor in determining the value of a home in the area, which boasts some of the county's most expensive real estate. That's one reason why the city has one of the nation's toughest view-preservation ordinances.

nick.green@dailybreeze.com

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