'Everything was there and then it wasn't': Developers allowed to skirt tree ordinance FacebookTwitterEmail Trees were bulldozed to make way for new housing next to Government Canyon State Natural Area, in the background.Billy Calzada /Billy Calzada In 2019, a city environmental plans examiner emailed then-state Rep. Roland Gutierrez to inform him he had violated San Antonio’s tree preservation ordinance by chopping down a large heritage oak without a permit on a lot he was developing. “There will be a work without permit penalty of $2,000 assessed to your project,” Robin Loyd wrote to Gutierrez, D-San Antonio. The fine didn’t stick.