Rich Man, Poor Lawn Leaves Neighbors Fuming

"The way it stands now, it's a travesty. He's built a gaudy palace, and he's put this forest around it that looks like an abandoned nursery. I'm really not sure what he was trying to do there."

"Probst never finished the ambitious landscaping project he fought the Thousand Oaks establishment to build. Moreover, he has failed to maintain the patchwork of trees and bushes his landscape architect did plant, leaving the massive collection of foliage in a withering, half-dead state."

Charles Probst, a reclusive millionaire, gained attention after pledging $2 million to the Civic Arts Plaza but missing payments, leading to a lawsuit he recently settled. His primary controversy stems from an ambitious landscaping plan to transform the hillside below his mansion into an elaborate garden. However, Probst never completed the project and failed to maintain the vegetation that was planted, resulting in a withering, neglected landscape. Neighbors describe the outcome as a travesty, comparing it to an abandoned nursery surrounding a gaudy mansion. City records indicate Probst's representatives have filed plans to modify and scale back the original landscaping vision.

Read at Los Angeles Times