IRVINE : Trees, Taxes Topic of Council Meeting

The City Council is scheduled to discuss trees and taxes Tuesday in its continuing debate on what to do with a 1.4-mile dirt path behind homes in the city’s Northwood community.

The city has long planned to landscape the path, creating a park-like greenbelt. But with no money set aside to pay for it, the council will hold a public hearing to decide whether it should tax residents $74 a year.

The council will also consider whether 250 old eucalyptus trees lining the path should be replaced with younger trees.

Although there have been previous meetings on the proposed greenbelt, Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. session will be the first since Northwood residents were surveyed to gauge their opinions.

Of the 23% of the residents who returned the city’s mail-in survey, 32% supported the proposed tax and 90% wanted to save the eucalyptus trees.

During a July meeting, a group of residents living directly behind the greenbelt complained that the 80-year-old trees are dangerous. One resident testified that a branch broke from one of the trees and nearly struck her son in her back yard.

At the end of that meeting, the City Council voted to remove all of the blue gum eucalyptus trees and plant a different variety if the landscaping plan went forward.

The council also voted at that meeting to hold a hearing early next year on the proposed $74-a-year tax on Northwood homes for five years.

Within two weeks of agreeing to get rid of the eucalyptus, the council reversed itself after an outcry from other residents concerned about the historic significance of the trees. The council voted to send the survey to all Northwood residents to gauge their opinions on both the tax and trees.

On Tuesday, city staff will recommend that the council vote to preserve the eucalyptus trees, except for about 50 that are diseased or close to back-yard walls. The council is also expected to decide whether to kill plans for the tax in light of the survey results.

If the council kills the tax plan, the landscaping project probably will be delayed at least another year while the city searches for alternative funding.