New trees arrive for promenade project in downtown Laguna Beach
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As construction crews work to complete the Promenade on Forest in time for summer, the project converting the lower portion of a downtown Laguna Beach street into a permanent pedestrian plaza recently received new trees.
The arrival of the new trees comes after the city had several eucalyptus trees removed on the recommendation of two arborist reports in April, from Dudek and Monarch Environmental.
The failure of one tree, which fell into the construction site during the weekend of March 21-22, set the chain of events in motion. City officials explained the decision as one motivated by public safety and risk management concerns.
Tempers flared in the immediate aftermath of the removal, however, with dozens demonstrating just outside the construction fencing and referring to the work as the deforestation of Forest Avenue.
City officials and community members are hoping the new trees will become long-term residents. City Manager Dave Kiff, in an email Saturday, said the new arrivals will have their health monitored, and they will be replaced if they fail.
Two southern live oak trees arrived on site over the weekend, with a third large tree — a 96-inch-box sycamore — scheduled to come in behind them.
City officials called an urgent meeting Monday to inform residents of plans for the immediate removal of nine trees in and around the project area for the Promenade on Forest.
“I think that this is a great opportunity to celebrate and highlight the unique ecological and cultural resources, which native species are,” Jensen Hallstrom, an urban forest advocate, said during the general public comment period at the Laguna Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday. “Southern live oak is a very adaptable and very tolerant tree in certain stressful soil conditions, and, also to the salt-laden air right near the shore right there.
“Coast live oak is also a very adaptable species, which I hope there are some coast live oaks which will be planted, especially a little bit further north on the block — a little bit further from that salt-laden wind can help provide some protection. I think this is very pressing, given that the local urban forest in downtown Laguna Beach is not well representing native species. With the engineering considerations, such as the [framework of] Silva cells and the irrigation to leach salts out of the soil, coast live oak is a good choice, and I hope that it is implemented into this project.”
Ten eucalyptus trees, all 48-inch-box size, had also been delivered by Friday, said Kiff, who added that those eucalyptus polyanthemos came from Fillmore, where they had been growing for a few years.
More trees are expected, although outside of the sycamore tree, the remainder are anticipated to be smaller than what has arrived to date.
The Laguna Beach City Council provided an update following the overnight removal of nine eucalyptus trees along the Promenade on Forest on April 20.
“These were sought out by the landscape architect (SWA), as well as the project arborist,” Kiff said at Tuesday’s meeting. “They’ve been growing there in anticipation of this project. They did do a full analysis of the southern live oak versus the coast live oak and determined that the southern live oak will do better in that location. …
“The rest of the species selection are almost all eucalyptus polyanthemos. … Remember, we have a project approval for this, that this time last year went through a lot of different public hearings to select those two species. We can’t just change that in mid flight, so when we knew we needed to remove more of the trees, we stuck with the recommendation — with the exception of adding a sycamore.”
