A Portland couple fined $1,000 for the illegal cutting of a protected tree maintained this week that they have no intention to build a house on their hillside property.

But newly released records show it was something they explored in 2013.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Saturday, Clark Binkley and Gail Neuburg say they have no idea who cut down a designated Heritage Tree on their property with panoramic views of downtown.

When they returned home from vacation just after Christmas, it had been mysteriously chopped down, prompting the city to fine the property owners. Binkley was upset he had to pay and hypothesized to The Oregonian/OregonLive that neighbors could have wanted it gone to offer better views.

Records obtained this week through a public records request show Binkley and Neuburg looked into the possibility of building a house in what appears to be the same location as where the 100-foot Heritage Tree once stood.

In February 2013, before Binkley and Neuburg bought their house and the neighboring undeveloped parcel, they submitted a very crude site plan for city planners to review.

"Applicant intends to adjust the common property line to allow a building site" on the vacant property fronting Northwest Maywood Drive, according to the hand-written project description submitted to the city.

The site plan shows a square "Proposed Bldg. Site" along Maywood, next to the existing house.

A schematic from 2013 showing a potential house to be built along Northwest Maywood Drive, where a Heritage Tree was illegally cut down.

And among the questions they wanted answered: Does the land-use history suggest "the vacant property can be developed with a single residence?"

At a March 2013 meeting, a city planner reviewed "drawings, plans and other preliminary information about a proposed project," according to a summary of the meeting.

In an interview Thursday, Binkley explained he and Neuburg were simply performing due diligence before buying the house and property.

"We were not necessarily going to build a house, but the property has value to the extent that somebody could build a house on it," he said.

"It was simply a matter of saying, 'What are our rights, what does the zoning say you can do there?'" he added.

The site is complex. Not only are there two parcels, but the site also has two zoning designations and it is in an environmentally protected area.

Nowhere in the summary of their conversations with the city of Portland is there discussion of the Heritage Tree.

"If they can't even tell you what the story is, how am I supposed to know?" Binkley said.

Binkley works in the forestry industry as chief investment officer and managing director of GreenWood Resources. Neuburg is the executive managing director for the Portland office of brokerage firm ARA Newmark.

Performing due diligence "is the kind of stuff that professionals do," Binkley said of he and his wife, especially for such a big purchase.

They closed the real estate deal in April 2013, paying $1.8 million for their home on .23 acres plus the neighboring 1.48 acres of open land.

As previously reported, Binkley said he and Neuburg didn't discover until last year that a tree on their property was protected under city rules. An employee for Neuburg spent time researching the situation last year, records show. Binkley said he wanted the information so he could complain to the previous property owners for not disclosing the tree's protection.

And then, in December, the tree was mysteriously cut down.

Binkley on Thursday said he has "no idea" if it now would be easier to build a house with the Heritage Tree gone.

"We don't have any intentions to build a house," he reiterated.

Asked how he feels about the tree being cut down, Binkley described the accompanying circumstances as an "extraordinary disruption" and "great aggravation."

But specifically about the tree being gone?

"Given the overlay of everything else, I don't think I can really respond to that. All the aggravation that I've described to you."

"You can ask me that question," he added, "in six months."

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch