ARBOR AMENDMENT-The city could approve a new ordinance in the next six months that would regulate the pruning of trees on commercial and industrial properties, like these seen here on the corner of Los Angeles and Sinaloa avenues. Business owners in the city of Simi Valley may soon have to answer for how they maintain the trees on their private property.

The city's tree advisory board, which is composed of nine members representing a cross section of the community, is in the process of drafting a citywide ordinance that would regulate tree-pruning practices on commercial and industrial properties in Simi Valley.

According to Jerry Clark, a landscape architect with the city's department of environmental services, the ordinance would impose fines on businesses that allow tree-topping on their property. Tree-topping is the indiscriminate removal of a tree's canopy by cutting off large branches and the main stem, leaving large branch stubs.

To get a visual picture, it's like taking a pair of scissors and snipping off the top, or crown, of a tree.

"Essentially it's taking a tree and cutting the tree's canopy in half to where you end up with either a very flat top or a very reduced canopy," Clark said. "It's typically done either if a tree is growing too close to a building or if business signs are being obscured.

"Not only does it disfigure the tree but it actually generates more branches in the future," he continued. "It creates more problems than it does good."

Topping can also lead to a tree's death, Clark said, if done repeatedly or if done one time severely.

"Ultimately it can bring on a slow death because the tree no longer has the leaf structure to generate enough energy through the photosynthesis process to keep it alive," he said.

Councilmember Barbara Williamson sits on the tree board and has been pushing hard for the ordinance, which isn't likely to come before the City Council until after the first of the year.

"To me, it's one of the most important things the tree committee has done to date," Williamson said. "We're letting businesses know that if they top a tree, that tree is going to die. . . . We're letting them know there's a better way."

Though tree-topping is still commonly performed by landscapers, it has long been frowned upon by environmentalists and tree lovers alike for the harm it does.

When a tree is topped, Clark explained, the new branches that grow in are not as strong as the original ones. So when California's notorious Santa Ana winds start whipping up, the danger of a limb snapping is increased.

"It creates another batch of problems without ever resolving the initial issue of the tree obscuring a sign, blocking a streetlight or growing into the side of a building," Clark said. "It's a quick resolution to a longterm problem."

The tree board is also looking into starting an information campaign to educate local business owners on the subject of topping. Part of the battle, Clark said, is convincing businesses to hire reputable and certified landscaping firms who know how to handle overgrowth problems without threatening the life of a tree.

"Unfortunately, it's the lesseducated firms that are doing this, the companies that work out of the back of their trucks and do pruning work on the weekends," he said. "We want businesses to get assurances that the people they hire have their credentials . . . we want them to know the difference between good tree pruning and bad tree pruning."

Williamson said part of the board's goal is to keep unlicensed and uncaring landscapers from doing work in the city.

"These people could care less (if a tree dies) because they're not coming to this community again and we don't have a record of (their work)," she said.

Currently, there are no city statues in place regulating tree pruning, only the removal of trees. If adopted by the City Council, the ordinance would be one of the few of its kind in Southern California.

"There are quite a few that regulate pruning if the trees are in the public right-of-way, but very few regulate (it) on private property," Clark said.

Williamson said she hopes the city will work with business owners to show them that helping to prevent the death of trees in Simi Valley is in their best interest- both morally and economically.

"I'm a shopper, and I know where I go I want to park where there are trees and where there's shade. I don't want to park my car on a sea of asphalt," Williamson said.