Santa Clarita City Council members tabled plans to change the oak tree preservation ordinance after a public outcry over those changes.

Residents and activists representing the Sierra Club and the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment railed at the council over a clause in the proposed new ordinance that allows five oak trees to be removed by residents over a five-year period.

“Someone slipped a little clause in to remove five oaks,” said Henry Schultz, who represented the Sierra Club at Tuesday night’s meeting. “If everyone did, there could be no oaks left.”

The proposed changes would apply to non-Heritage oaks on the property of single-family residential homeowners — not to developers. Homeowners would be allowed to remove up to five oak trees within a five-year period with prior approval from the city of Santa Clarita — and records would be kept. Rules for removing more than five trees or for removing Heritage oaks remain the same.

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