Thanks for the message burntplants, but the link didn't take me to the story. I looked around the newspaper site and found this:

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A townhome developer agreed to pay the city $300,000 to restore nearly an acre in Woodland Park north of downtown that was scraped of trees.

By Mike Morris
December 12, 2013
Drop the chainsaw and back away from the live oak.

To continue reading this story, you will need to be a digital subscriber to HoustonChronicle.com.

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$300,000 should get the message across.

try this:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/houston/article/City-hoping-costly-settlement-sends-message-about-5056816.php