Rancho P.V. : Tree Removal to Continue

Despite concerns of the Eastview neighborhood that the city’s year-old tree-removal policy will denude their property and reduce land values, the City Council agreed to continue removing roadside trees that are cracking and buckling sidewalks, curbs and streets.

Although half the trees intended for removal in the city are gone, removal crews have just begun work in Eastview on the city’s eastern boundary.

The council, however, agreed that if a tree is causing nominal damage, it will not be removed, provided the property owner signs an agreement to pay for any future street, curb and sidewalk damage attributable to the tree and for the entire cost of its removal.

Currently, property owners pay half the cost of tree removal on parkways abutting their property. The trees were planted by property developers before the city was incorporated in 1973.

The cost of replacement, which is optional, is also split with the owner. Replacement trees are of a variety that will not mar pavement.

“The council does not have a Paul Bunyan mentality as regards the city,” Mayor Douglas Hinchliffe told the audience, but he said the city cannot continue to allow the trees to destroy streets.