A California couple has been hit with a $915,135 fine for cutting down 38 trees in the Oakland hills without the necessary permits, in what is believed to be the largest penalty of its kind in the city's history.
Council Vote and Background
The Oakland City Council voted on Tuesday to impose the fine on Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner, residents of Emeryville who purchased a hillside lot behind the Claremont Hotel and Club in 2019. According to city staff, the couple began felling trees two years later without applying for permits. The trees included native live oaks, broad-leaf maples, buckeyes, and other species.
Councilmembers Janani Ramachandran, Noel Gallo, Kevin Jenkins, Zac Unger, and Charlene Wang voted in favor of the fine, while Rowena Brown, Carroll Fife, and Ken Houston opposed it.
Violations and Warnings
City staff reported that Bernard repeatedly ignored warnings that permits were required to cut down the trees, some of which were on neighboring properties. The couple had applied for building permits to construct a single-family home, but Oakland issued a notice of violation under the Protected Trees Ordinance last year.
The value of each tree was calculated by staff, ranging from a small plum tree worth $750 to a mature coast live oak valued at $95,000, bringing the total to nearly $1 million.
Ecosystem and Public Safety Concerns
City staff emphasized that trees provide essential ecosystem services, including fire prevention, hillside stabilization against erosion and debris flows, biodiversity support, air purification, and mental health benefits.
Bernard and Warner requested a public hearing before the council, an option available to those facing fines under the tree protection law. The council failed to resolve the matter in its first two attempts in December and April. At the April 14 meeting, a motion for the maximum fine did not pass after councilmembers Fife, Brown, and Houston voted no, and Gallo's absence was recorded as a no vote.
Environmental Advocacy and Public Testimony
In the lead-up to Tuesday's meeting, environmental advocates sent numerous emails to councilmembers supporting the fine. Several speakers at the meeting expressed concern that failing to penalize Bernard and Warner would signal to developers and property owners that they could cut down trees without consequences.
Arash Daneshzadeh, director of programs at the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, stated, "This is not simply an environmental issue. It’s a civic, public safety and equity issue. When violations, particularly in egregious cases like this, go unpenalized, it sends a clear message that compliance is optional."
Defense and Counterarguments
Before the vote, Bernard argued that he had tried in good faith to follow the city's process and claimed that some of the 38 trees were already cut down, diseased, or dead. "We dispute there were 38 trees removed," he said. "Some trees fell prior to our purchase, others fell during storms."
City staff countered that they had gathered extensive evidence, including photographs of the lot before and after the trees were cut, photos of people cutting trees on the property, and detailed reports by Oakland's arborist staff. Police also responded to the property while Bernard and others were cutting trees.
Bernard asked the council to waive the fine and allow him and Warner to replant new trees after building their home.
Council Divisions and Final Decision
Councilmembers Brown and Fife sought a more favorable outcome for Bernard. Brown called the protected tree ordinance "outdated" and argued that imposing such a large fine for trees the city might have permitted to be removed anyway was unfair. She proposed a roughly $300,000 reduction in the fine.
Fife criticized what she described as racially inequitable policies, drawing comparisons to the drug war, mass incarceration, and colonization, while noting that Bernard is Black and his property is in an area where people of color were historically prohibited from living. She supported Brown's proposal.
However, a majority of the council ultimately agreed that laws must be enforced. Ramachandran stated that Oakland needs "to be crystal clear to anyone who wants to come into our city and trash our city, and violate our laws, and think you can get away with it: …You are going to be fined."
Jenkins echoed this sentiment, asking, "Are we going to enforce the laws? Do they mean anything?" He appealed to Gallo and Houston, who often express frustration over perceptions of lawlessness in Oakland, to support the fine.
This story was originally published by The Oaklandside and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
