The City of Santa Barbara claims it will cost more than $100,000 to replace three of its 50-year-old Eugenia trees along Paterna Road that were cut down without permission. Homeowner James Allen Carr and landscaper Enrique Calles Vasquez are named in a new felony complaint filed by the District Attorney’s Office after they allegedly took out three trees on city property and one in Carr’s front setback in December 2020. The result could be an increase in property value of $2 million if Carr gets what he's now asking for the property, which he bought a month before the trees were felled.
Noted for evergreen leaves and magenta-colored berries, the Eugenias were among dozens planted by the city decades ago along the sidewalk of Paterna Road, a one-block street above Alameda Padre Serra on Santa Barbara's Riviera, with capacious views of the Pacific Ocean. Removing trees of more than four inches in diameter in front setbacks requires a permit, which is free, but Carr and Vasquez, who both live in the Sacramento area, did not obtain a permit or permission before firing up the chainsaws, much to the neighbors' fury.
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