Tree Falls in Forest of Legal Logic

Lewis P. Janowsky is an attorney skilled in words and torts. He didn’t know he would run afoul of Santa Ana ordinance 18-314e.

In other words, no noisy workmen on your property on a federal holiday. And Monday was a federal holiday.

After coming home Friday and seeing that a Chinese elm had fallen against his Floral Park house, blocking the front door, Janowsky thought the solution was simple: He would call a tree trimmer the next day.

Wrong. The first big storm of the season had created a boomlet for tree trimmers. He couldn’t get anyone to come to his house until Monday, which was Veterans Day.

That’s when he ran into ordinance 18-314e, which allows “noise sources associated with construction repair, remodeling or grading of any real property provided said activities do not take place between the hours of 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. weekends, including Saturday or any time on Sunday or a federal holiday.”

“True, it’s not a well-known ordinance, but it’s there,” said Santa Ana Police Lt. Bob Chavez.

Officers showed up in the neighborhood because of a complaint about the hammering and sawing going on at two other homes down the street from Janowsky’s.

After police halted work at those first two houses, they couldn’t ignore the work at Janowsky’s. The ordinance doesn’t give police leeway, especially after a complaint, Chavez said.

Police did not issue a citation and allowed the work to continue long enough to clear a path to Janowsky’s front door.

“I told him it was a win-win situation,” said Sgt. Bill Barrett.

Janowsky said he would write a letter to City Hall asking that someone look at the ordinance more closely.

That might not be necessary. City Manager David N. Ream said he would look into the matter first thing today.

“I’m sure, in enacting this ordinance, that the intent wasn’t to prevent the removal of trees that fell on houses due to a storm,” Janowsky said.

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Times staff writer Jennifer Mena contributed to this report.