IRVINE : City Moves Forward on Northwood Tax

The City Council agreed this week to move ahead with a proposed $74-a-year tax on Northwood community homeowners to pave a pedestrian and bicycle path along a former railroad line.

Money from the tax, which would be collected over a five-year period, would be used to create an eight-foot meandering concrete path and to remove about 250 historic eucalyptus trees that have become a danger to neighboring residences.

Before proceeding with plans to create a special property tax district to raise $2.3 million for the project, the city will survey all 7,700 Northwood property owners to gauge their level of support, said Assistant City Manager Allison Hart. The council is scheduled to review the survey results Sept. 8.

If the council decides to create the tax after reviewing the survey, Hart said, the city will set a March public hearing on the matter. By law, a 50% verbal or written protest at that meeting would kill the proposed tax.

The 1.4-mile dirt path is a source of irritation to many residents living behind it. They complain that the area attracts teen-age drinkers and vandals at night.

The proposed concrete path would be paved along a former railroad line between Culver Drive and Jeffrey Road, midway between Bryan Avenue and Irvine Boulevard in the Northwood community.

If the path serving pedestrians and bicyclists is built, the city will remove about 250 historic eucalyptus trees that line the path. Residents have complained that the trees occasionally drop heavy limbs and say they are concerned for people’s safety.

Ann Cleland, a Northwood resident who has pushed the city to pave and landscape the path behind her house, showed the council photographs of large trees towering over homes.

“If a tree like that went over, I think it would be a disaster,” Cleland said. “These trees literally weigh tons.”

However, city staff members recommended keeping the trees because of their historic tie to the past. The row of trees, estimated to be about 80 years old, served as a windbreak to agricultural fields that existed before the houses were built. Irvine has an 11-year-old policy to protect eucalyptus wind rows unless the trees are deemed to cause more problems than they are worth.

Replacing the trees as part of the paving project will add another $200,000 to the cost, Hart said.

Tom Larson, president of a tree consulting company that examined the trees for the city last month, said he believes the old trees pose no great hazard if they are maintained properly.

“To call all those trees unsafe and say they should come out . . . that is not true,” Larson said. “To consider all blue gum trees dangerous, that’s like saying that all trees are dangerous. It’s just ludicrous.”