SADDLEBACK/SOUTH BEACH : SAN CLEMENTE : Trees Planned to Line 24 Miles of Roads

Picture the beginning of a beachside city, crisscrossed with dirt roads carved from barren, sandy bluffs in the mid-1920s.

As it grew into a village of Mediteranean-style homes, palm trees were planted along its major artery, El Camino Real. Nurtured by the balmy climate, the town boomed and the trees reached majestic heights, towering over the developments that sprouted on the once-desolate knolls.

More than 60 years later, some different varieties of trees will be brought in to grace other arteries in San Clemente.

Under a street beautification plan, recently approved by the City Council, 24 miles of specified scenic routes will be lined with a variety of trees more common to Orange County’s inland areas. The list includes eucalyptus, live oak, sycamore, jacaranda, white alder, pine and coral trees.

“We’ve selected a different tree for each major highway,” said senior planner Patricia Willcocks, who worked with a consultant hired in 1984 by the council to design a landscaping plan for streets and medians in the city’s four newest developments--Rancho San Clemente, Forster Ranch, Marblehead and Talega Valley.

“Street medians tell you something about a community,” Councilwoman Holly Veale said. “Some are gorgeous, and some are a rat’s nest that looks like people threw garbage in them on the way to the dump.”

In the tree-planting design, which will allow main traffic arteries to be seen from a distance, selected streets were given a name linked with their proposed vegetation.

Avenida Pico was called “the Eucalyptus Corridor,” Avenida La Pata was “the Sycamore Corridor,” Cristianitos Road was “the Oak Tree Corridor” and Avenida Vista Hermosa was “the Vista Corridor,” proposed for jacaranda trees.

Developers building along the scenic routes will pay for planting of the trees and landscaping, Willcocks explained, adding that the city will share maintenance costs for the medians with the developers. Greenbelt areas fringing neighborhoods along the scenic routes will be maintained by homeowners’ associations, she said.

The plan also calls for red-flowering coral trees to be planted at five major intersections with Interstate 5, and for drought-resistant shrubs to be planted in medians that are wide enough to be maintained by landscaping crews.

Older sections of town, such as El Camino Real, will be upgraded in a separate beautification plan being drawn up by a consulting firm that the council hired last month.

That plan, called the Urban Design Element, is an attempt to refurbish some of San Clemente’s historic hubs that have been lost in the mishmash of commercial and residential growth that has flourished since World War II.