When men in orange vests showed up with chainsaws early one morning at Gum Grove Nature Park, some Seal Beach neighbors assumed the workers belonged there.

“I thought the city was getting rid of some dead trees,” recalled Harry Bochman.

But birdwatchers, happening upon the scene a bit later, sensed something was amiss and called authorities.

By the time police arrived on March 19, the landscape was dotted with dozens of stumps that had once formed a patch of Brazilian pepper trees – the carcasses of which were fed into a wood chipper attached to a truck.

On June 15, Seal Beach City Attorney Craig Steele issued a demand to Rocky Gentner – who lives on Crestview Avenue, a residential street bordering the 11-acre park – for restitution in the amount of $89,300 by July 1. Steele said Gentner had hired a tree-trimming company for the “unpermitted, illegal” clearing of 153 trees.

With the July 1 deadline missed, city officials last week confirmed plans to file a lawsuit against the local businessman, seeking the restitution.

“The city attorney’s office is moving forward this week to file a lawsuit for the damage and will pursue that lawsuit aggressively,” Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos said.

In a brief telephone interview, Gentner would not discuss his dispute with the city except to say, “They weren’t trees, they were bushes – and they were dead.”

Officials reject those claims, saying an “arborist verified that 153 trees were alive when they were cut,” according to Steele’s letter.

Some of Gentner’s neighbors agreed that the trees were, in fact, trees – if not thriving, at least surviving.

“A few of them weren’t looking so good because of the drought,” said Ken Kropf. “I am not going to say they were beautiful. But you shouldn’t so much as add a rope swing to a tree in a park without permission.”

“I don’t care what his excuses are, it’s ridiculous,” said Barbara Wright, who has lived on Crestview for 50 years. “If anybody could just cut down whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to, we’d have a bare hill instead of park.”

The canopy of the trees in the mature grove collectively measured about 1,800 square feet, Steele wrote in the letter to Gentner.

The letter also named Tom Curran, owner of the Garden Grove tree-trimming business Gentner hired for $1,200. Gallegos declined to comment on whether Curran will be included in the lawsuit.

The city’s count of 153 trees includes young offshoots as well as taller, established trees, Kropf said.

Most of the trees in Gum Grove are eucalyptus planted by ranchers in the early 1900s. The secluded area is home to dozens of bird species as well as skunks, rabbits, raccoons, opossum and not-as-popular coyotes.

“It’s a beautiful little respite,” said tree advocate Mario Voce. “Gum Grove is the only urban forest in west Orange County – meaning it’s a park that offers passive recreation rather than basketball courts and playground equipment.”

Residents also complain that Gentner started a project to expand his backyard beyond his lot’s wall and into the park.

“He was in the process of landscaping,” Wright said. “He put in pavers and dug trenches.”

The city attorney’s letter called the decorative stones “illegal encroachments” that must “be removed immediately.”

However, the pavers remain.

“Amazing,” said Mike Varipapa, the councilman who represents the neighborhood abutting Gum Grove. “It’s just total disregard for the park.”

Contact the writer: sgoulding@ocregister.com