Council to Consider Removing 53 Trees

The City Council on Monday will consider removing 53 eucalyptus trees throughout the city.

Two arborists say the trees are either diseased or in danger of being yanked out of the ground by high winds, City Manager Mike Sedell said. A couple of years ago, high winds hurled a tree onto a Simi Valley house, he said.

“We try to keep them as long as we can, but when there’s a potential hazard, we have to take them out,” Sedell said. The trees will be replaced by fast-growing, 24-inch boxed trees, he said.

Mayor Bill Davis said the eucalyptus trees are good as wind breakers, but they don’t offer much more.

“They’re a pretty trashy tree and they fall over pretty easily,” Davis said. “If it were oak or sycamore trees coming down, you’d have an uproar.”

Councilwoman Barbra Williamson, though, noted that the last time city officials wanted to cut down trees, they ended up saving some because experts had overstated the need to remove some of them.

“I understand that some have to come out,” Williamson said. “I just want to make sure we’re not willy-nilly picking them out.”

It will cost the city about $24,800 to remove the trees.

Council members also will consider a plan to mask electrical utility boxes with shrubs and trees when they are installed. An earlier proposal to put all the utility boxes underground was found to be impractical because storm water can sometimes cause short-circuits and power outages, Davis said.

City officials also may ask property owners if they can plant trees, shrubs or erect some other kinds of screens in front of existing utility boxes, Davis said.

The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.