Humboldt delays Lower Redway redwood report until permit review completes

Humboldt County put off Board of Supervisors review of the Lower Redway redwood removal report until the county finished its permit process for the last remaining tree, leaving one old-growth redwood standing at the corner of Oakridge Drive and Briceland Road.

County officials said the procedural delay matters because the Board hears appeals of Planning Commission decisions. If supervisors discussed the removal report before the special permit case is resolved, they could be limited in what they can say or decide later if the permit is appealed. The county said that made rescheduling the report the cleaner legal path.

As of May 26, county officials said four trees had already been removed and one old-growth redwood remained on the property. A special permit application for the final tree had been submitted to the county, and the Humboldt County Planning Commission is expected to consider it on Thursday, June 18. The Planning & Building Department said Current Planning handles special permits and supports the commission.

The dispute has already drawn close scrutiny in SoHum, where the remaining tree has become the visible center of a larger fight over development, safety and environmental values. Earlier reporting described the tree as 252 feet tall and estimated its age at between 350 and 370 years. It was also reported that five old-growth redwoods had been removed from the Lower Redway parcel before the county’s latest action, and that the owner of the property is Robert Scarlett.

The removals initially moved ahead under a CalFire hazard-tree exemption before Humboldt County later required a special permit for the last redwood. That shift turned the question from an emergency removal dispute into a formal land-use decision, with the Planning Commission now set to weigh whether the remaining tree can come down, be preserved, or be held in limbo longer.

If the commission approves or denies the permit, the decision could still be appealed to the Board of Supervisors. The Board generally meets Tuesdays at 9 a.m. at the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka, where the eventual report on Lower Redway could still set a precedent for how the county handles similar old-growth conflicts in the future.