ENCINITAS — Dozens of dead palm trees on a state lawmaker’s private land, viewed by neighbors as a dangerous fire hazard, have sparked urgent calls to clear the mounting piles of tinder-dry fronds in light of the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.
Rossini Canyon, a property in Cardiff-by-the-Sea owned by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), has drawn several complaints in recent years about potential fire hazards posed by more than 40 dead palm trees and mounds of dried fronds on the site. According to neighbors, dozens of Canary Island and Queen palm trees on the parcel were killed during a palm weevil infestation starting in 2021.
In a statement sent to The Coast News, Blakespear said a community effort was planned this weekend to address the fire hazard and clear years of withered palm fronds and deadfall.
“We recognize this creates a fire danger, and we’ll be working Saturday to remove them,” she said, referring to a community-led effort to remove as much of the dead foliage as possible. “We encourage participation from surrounding neighbors to work together collectively to reduce risk in a space that has been enjoyed by many neighbors for years.”
Neighboring residents like Lance Cummings, whose home borders Rossini Canyon, have described the dead palms and up to 20-foot high piles of brown, desiccated fronds as “Roman candles waiting for a spark,” posing a severe fire risk to the surrounding 50 homes in the densely packed neighborhood.
In November 2023, Cummings reported the potential fire risk to the city through MyEncinitas, a civic engagement app that allows residents to share their concerns quickly. The city responded on Dec. 29, 2023, stating the area was not located in a “very high fire hazard severity zone” and, therefore, the dead palms did not necessitate action, according to emails obtained by The Coast News.
Cummings’ wife filed a similar complaint and received the same response from city officials.
“There’s been nothing done at all, and those fronds just sit there and dry out,” Cummings said. “The palm trees don’t get a lot of water. They have a lot of oil in their fronds and probably burn quicker and easier than any other tree, especially after sitting around for two years.”
Cummings again submitted another report to the city about the dead palms in March 2024 but received a similar response.
Blakespear told The Coast News she was aware of the reports made to the city.
“I think all of our perception of fire risk is amplified given the severity of the firestorms in Los Angeles,” Blakespear said in an email. “I am as focused on the fire risks that surround me as community members are.”
In partnership with the state lawmaker’s husband, Jeremy Blakespear, a former park ranger, Cummings initiated a community cleanup effort for Jan. 20, involving local volunteers and a wood chipper.
However, Cummings noted that this effort would only partially address the hazard, as additional professional cleanup is needed to remove fronds still hanging in the trees.
“I don’t care, as long as we get some small resolution,” Cummings said. “But it’s too little, too late.”
In response to Cummings’ December 2023 email regarding fire hazards in Rossini Canyon, Councilmember Joy Lyndes said that she had spoken with city officials to review brush management and code compliance for the mostly private lot.
“I have engaged our city manager, fire chief, and head of planning to give input regarding brush management code compliance,” Lyndes wrote to Cummings at the time.
However, her response did not outline specific actions to address the hazard.
Lyndes told the Coast News Wednesday, “the action I always take when alerted to a possible brush management issue is to report the issue to the correct city staff who investigate and take action.”
Chapter 11.12 of the Encinitas Municipal Code states that it’s “unlawful for any owner, lessee or occupant of any real property within the City to place or maintain dirt, rubbish, materials, grass, weeds or vegetation on or about such property or on or about adjacent sidewalks, parking areas, alleys or streets in a manner that is either dangerous or injurious to neighboring property or the health or welfare of residents in the vicinity; or interferes with the use of public rights-of-way.”
Residents have also expressed frustration on social media, such as the Facebook group Encinitas Votes, with many calling for professional intervention to remove the dead trees and mitigate the risk. Some noted the potential for wildfire, drawing comparisons to the devastating Lahaina Fire in Maui.
“I walked up Rossini Canyon yesterday. None of the dead palms located on the Blakespear property have been cleared,” wrote longtime Cardiff resident Gerald Sodmoka. “It’s an enormous job to clear them out. There is no way a work party will even make a dent in the cleanup. Blakespear needs to hire a professional company to do the job. The bottom of the canyon is dense with growth and has no path from one dead palm to another. A pathway will need to be hacked through the thick undergrowth. It will be a very expensive job and cost a lot of money but needs to be done for public safety.”
Others questioned why the issue has persisted for over a year and has not been adequately addressed by city officials or the property owner, in this case, Blakespear.
Cummings also criticized the Blakespears for inadequate action to protect neighboring homes.
“They’ve done their best to mitigate their [own house],” Cummings said. “But it’s a failure to acknowledge that the rest of the neighbors are in danger too.”
Blakespear acknowledged the fire hazard and concerns raised by the community, emphasizing her commitment to addressing the issue through immediate community cleanup efforts and long-term solutions.
“Watching the scale of the devastation in Los Angeles and understanding the profound loss of having your home burn to the ground weighs very heavily on me, and I understand the concerns expressed by neighbors and others in the community who worry about fire risk,” Blakespear said. “We aim to remove the risk and keep this space a refuge for members of the community for years to come.”
5 comments
The queen of spin . Was she looking for free labor by coining the cleanup a community event?
She owns the property and Blakespear and family should pay for the cleanup.
It is fairly simple concept.
The fact that Blakespear has completely disregarded all of her neighbors requests to remove her diseased Canary Palms for several years now say’s quite a bit about Blakespear.
1. She’s selfish and doesn’t care about the safety of her neighbors with a potential fire.
2. She’s asked for volunteers to clean up her mess, when she should be hiring professionals who know how to do the job. This is yet another lack of respect for her neighbors and community.
3. According to numerous articles that have been published on Canary Palms, Blakespear needs to hire an Arborist to remove and or treat her numerous diseased Canary Palms. Canary Palms when diseased can infect other local habitat and destroy it, especially when high winds pick up, or if diseased palm frowns are being dragged over other local habitat during cleanup.
4. The Canary Palms need to be completely removed or in a best case scenario treated for the disease by an Arborist.
Catherine Blakespear, I’m asking, we’re asking that you do the right thing and please let the professionals take care of your Canary Palm problem and not a bunch of volunteers for photo ops.
You’re complete disregard of this shows your lack of leadership to do the right thing and accountability.
Her excuse for using free, inexperienced resident labor to clean up HER property is to “keep this space a refuge for members of the community for years to come?” What is she talking about? It’s been inaccessible for more than a decade – and no one views her private property as a “refuge.” This is the usual gaslighting and attempt to rewrite history that we’ve come to expect from her.
If her “aim” is to “remove the risk” she’s had ample opportunity for years. It’s called writing a check. This seriously misguided idea of hers to use unskilled labor to solve her problem gives cheap a new name.
Great informative article, thank you Mr. Armstrong.
Catherine Blakespear should not only remove the fire debris immediately that she’s selfishly refused to do for the last several years, but she should also remove the trees according to a Master Gardener San Diego publication.
It also states that she needs to hire a professional arborist to have the tree’s removed because of the diseases they have that can spread to other trees.
From the publication…..
“Hire a professional arborist to remove infested, dead or dying palms on your property. This can stop the next generation of weevils from flying to another host on the block or in the canyon. The infested material removed (usually only the top 25% of the tree where the SAPW larvae have been eating away at the apical meristem) should be chipped, then tarped securely and transported to a certified landfill that will bury the material in 24 hours or less.”
The fact that Blakespear was asked nicely to clean up her “roman candles” multiple time throughout the last few years and completely disregarded her neighbors, just shows us truly how little regard she has for anyone else besides herself.
https://www.mastergardenersd.org/canary-island-date-palm-weevil/