More than a year after a local activist group sued the city of Beverly Hills for allegedly violating the California Environmental Quality Act while removing nearly 50 Ficus trees on Robertson Boulevard, the parties are now working towards a settlement, the plaintiff’s attorney told the Courier.
A hearing scheduled for June 3 was continued to Aug. 6, as the parties are still working out the amount of attorney fees the city will have to pay, said attorney Jamie Hall said.
“This is just putting the case to bed,” Hall said. “We’re wrapping it up with a bow on top,” he added.
Crews in February 2023 began cutting down the trees as part of a sidewalk repair project, with city officials claiming the Ficus roots had upended the Robertson sidewalk, posing public safety concerns and resulting in trip-and-fall claims against the city.
The tree removal angered residents and environmentalists, and a month later, the newly formed Robertson Boulevard Special Task Force sued the city, arguing that neither the project nor the tree removal were exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Attorneys for Beverly Hills denied this claim and argued the city would lose $10,000 every week the removals were halted. A judge ultimately sided with the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction last July forbidding the removal of the remaining 36 Ficus trees until the case concludes.
According to Hall, the city has agreed to conduct an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), and it no longer made sense to prosecute the case.
“We’re pleased with the decision to do an EIR,” Hall said. “There’s good EIRs and bad EIRs, and we’ll see what they do.”
