Branching Out : As Trees Grow, Port Hueneme Seeks New Revenue for Maintenance

It’s been 15 years since Port Hueneme officials took a step to spruce up the city’s image as a drab port town and establish a civic identity.

In 1978, officials started planting eucalyptus trees along the medians of Ventura Road and Hueneme Road. More were planted along the same streets and along Patterson Avenue through the mid-1980s.

At the same time, coral trees were planted at city gateways and key intersections to show that Port Hueneme was different from other cities. Palm trees also took their turn, sprouting along the beach.

Though these public trees--4,016 of them to date--still stand tall along Port Hueneme’s picturesque thoroughfares, they are posing more of a financial concern as they age and as more maintenance is required.

Two years ago, the establishment of a parkway and median maintenance tax, which costs each homeowner $24.62 a year, helped offset some of the expense of caring for the trees along the medians. The fee is renewed each year.

Now, city landscapers hope a proposed park maintenance district will ease the burden of taking care of the trees and maintaining the city’s parks and a portion of Hueneme Beach. The fee is $37 to $51 a year, based on proximity to city parks. But the proposal faces stiff opposition from some residents.

The city will hold a June 16 public hearing on the current and proposed assessment districts.

According to Public Works Director Jack Duffy, the cost of maintaining the trees in the medians and parkways is about $158,200 annually. Upkeep on the beach and park trees costs an additional $160,000.

“Eventually, a lot of things will start to deteriorate more,” said Kim Cuilty, the city’s landscape maintenance supervisor. “As far as funding, anything would help us out.”

Cuilty said his staff of eight includes two full-time tree pruners, who put in a total of about 3,600 hours of pruning each year. Much of that time, he said, is spent specifically on the brittle coral trees, which are prone to breaking in the wind.

“The city was trying to obtain a certain image for itself, and the trees do that,” Cuilty said. “They kind of make the city distinctive from other cities. But coral trees are a real high-maintenance tree.”

As multi-trunk corals break, they are being replaced with more sturdy, single-trunk corals.

But it’s not just the corals that are becoming more fragile. Many of the city’s trees are in need of close attention these days.

“Right now, we’re just trying to keep up,” Cuilty said. Cuilty said he and his crew are increasingly busy pruning tree roots that are starting to break through sidewalks in some areas.

Despite the increasing problems, Port Hueneme residents continue to love their trees.

“I think if you ask people what physical feature they identify the city with, more than anything they would say the trees,” said Brady Cherry, director of recreation and community services. “It’s so striking when you drive into Port Hueneme.”

Helen Pennington, a six-year Port Hueneme resident, agrees.

“You certainly notice them,” Pennington said. “I think the trees are important as identification, to separate us from Oxnard. When you look around Oxnard, there’s not a lot of cosmetic stuff.”

Oxnard, in fact, does have its share of coral trees in parks and medians, but the city has stopped planting them due to their high maintenance needs, said Dean Yamamoto, Oxnard’s parks maintenance supervisor.

Bonnie Williams, who has lived in Oxnard and Port Hueneme since the early 1970s, witnessed the arrival of Port Hueneme’s trees. “I love and adore those trees,” she said. “Honestly, I appreciate them.”

Williams said she particularly is fond of the eucalyptus trees that form a leafy canopy over Ventura Road.

“It’s real nice to come down the street,” she said. “You run out of the stark sunlight and into the shade. Our medians are beautiful. It is something the other cities don’t have.”

Dorothy Blake, a resident of a condominium complex in the beach area, said she would prefer one flat assessment for all homeowners, instead of charging people more for living near public parks.

“I am not opposed to the city’s need to raise money to maintain parks,” Blake said. “It just has to be fair.”