Review of city’s tree policy nears

June Casagrande

If a ficus tree falls on the Balboa Peninsula in September, does it

make a sound in City Council chambers in February? It’s hardly the

head-scratcher of the original philosophical question. The answer is

simply, yes.

After the city chopped down 23 ficus trees on Main Street last

fall, the Balboa Arbor Society, which had fought to save the trees,

demanded as a concession that the city consider reviewing and

revising its policies on city-owned trees.

Arbor society members believe that the action can avert fiascos

like the early morning chainsaw scene that leveled all but two of the

trees before arbor society members had even wiped the sleep out of

their eyes. Others wonder whether the tree policy review is simply a

concession to salve the sting of defeat felt by the tree supporters.

Either way, Mayor Steve Bromberg said, it’s not a bad idea to take

a look at the city’s standards for dealing with trees.

“We agreed to look at it and so we’re going to look at it,”

Bromberg said.

Staff members believe that the situation can be improved: City

Manager Homer Bludau has recommended that the council consolidate

some of the rules governing trees into a more comprehensive and

comprehensible policy. But how far council will go remains anybody’s

guess.

Staff has laid out for council a number of issues that they might

want to address: Should the city have a blanket policy on trees? How

do you decide which trees are “special” and when the special trees

might be removed? When the city removes problem trees, should it

replace them with new trees of a more suitable species? And how

should the city balance protecting trees and protecting city views?

City officials said that the far-reaching roots of the Main Street

ficus trees that were removed in September were causing damage to

sidewalks, sewer lines and even building foundations. Tree supporters

said that razing all the trees was not the answer: they recommended

removing some trees and pruning and root pruning others.