How should Laguna deal with municipal trees? City Council will take up the issue
The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday night will discuss whether to add to existing rules regarding the trimming and removal of city-maintained trees.
The most recent rules, adopted in March, require a thorough vetting of a tree’s health before deciding whether it should be removed, such as an arborists’ analysis and an on-site meeting to gather public input. Tree advocates cried foul when the city removed a eucalyptus tree in the Lumberyard mall area that experts said was at risk of falling.
But the test case for the beefed-up rules is a 50-foot eucalyptus tree next to Urth Caffe at 308 N. Coast Hwy.
Despite an arborist’s recommendation that the tree be pulled out because of deteriorating health, and the possibility that it could injure passersby, the council in May gave the tree a few more months to see if it could be revived. An arborist is scheduled to see the tree next week to gauge any progress it may have made, city public works director Shohreh Dupuis said.
The city staff, responding to the council’s request, prepared two tree proposals for consideration.
One deals with maintenance requests for trees in areas that may appear on maps but have not been the responsibility of the city, according to a staff report.
Under this proposal, a person would submit a request to the city, after which an arborist would inspect the tree’s overall health and the council would decide whether it should be maintained by the city or the adjacent property owner.
If the council decides that the tree should be added to the city’s list, the person requesting maintenance would pay for the first trimming.
The other proposal addresses requests to trim or remove public trees that may have overgrown to the point of blocking views of the surrounding landscape.
In this situation, a resident or business owner would submit a request to the city, which then would review the complaint and make a suggestion. If excessive trimming is required, an arborist would be brought in to handle the work.
The person making the request would foot the entire bill, which the city said could range from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on the tree type, age and size, the staff report said.
These rules would not preclude the city from removing a tree immediately if staff deems that it is a hazard to people, according to the report.
The city has a view preservation and restoration ordinance, but that policy addresses complaints from private property owners concerned about views lost because of neighbors’ overgrown vegetation.
Laguna’s list of city-maintained trees, which it started keeping in 1980, notes 2,745, featuring 96 varieties. The three most prevalent species are Mexican fan palm, California sycamore and coast live oak, the staff report said.
Trees are trimmed either yearly or biannually, depending on the species and growing characteristics.
The next step for the eucalyptus tree near Urth, which stands in the middle of a sidewalk in the city’s public right-of-way, is to be seen by an arborist, who would report to the council next month, Dupuis said.
On the earlier advice of experts, crews have removed some mulch, giving the tree’s roots more space to grow, Dupuis added.
Twitter: @AldertonBryce
