The city will draft an ordinance governing which public trees may be cut down to preserve private views, where trees can be planted on public land, what are the best species and other concerns.
After more than an hour of testimony from dozens of residents at a joint meeting of the San Clemente City Council, planning commission and General Plan Advisory Committee Wednesday, Mayor Bob Baker asked staffers to come up with a comprehensive plan for trees in the city. He initially proposed the plan to address concerns of residents who said trees on certain public lands in the city were obscuring their ocean views and reducing their property values.
In addressing the concerns of those preservationists who argued against removing any trees to protect private views, Baker said the trees in question would be a small percentage of city trees. The ordinance, he said, would be comprehensive and include preservation measures.
"The city has 15,000 trees it's responsible for on 518 acres of city property," he said. "That's about 30 trees per acre average density. There's 12,000 acres in San Clemente... that's 360,000 trees in San Clemente. People are talking about removing maybe 100 trees. I think we should consider a tree preservation ordinance at our earliest convenience."
Sharon Heider, director of the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Department, said she and her staff researched other cities' ordinances and developed some guiding principles for crafting one for San Clemente:
- The ordinance would only address trees on public property, because trying to govern privately planted trees becomes too cumbersome.
- Trees removed should be replaced with appropriate species in appropriate locations.
- Pruning measures should not include the chopping off the tops of trees, as it is "not a good horticultural practice."
- The ordinance should require the person who petitions the city for tree removal to pay for the cost of that removal and the cost of the replacement tree.
"It does become an awfully contentious issue because there are conflicting goals," Heider said, addressing Donchak's concern.
Proving Heider's point, dozens of residents spoke on the issue. Those in favor of tree removal measures mostly came from the Broadmoor neighborhood -- the brought a petition signed by 100 residents. Broadmoor residents want the 100-foot eucalyptus trees removed from Verde Park.
"You didn't plant public trees, you stole their views," said Gregg Lipanovich. "It's just like taking money out of somebody's pockets."
Other Broadmoor residents -- including prominent member of the San Clemente Historical Society Georgette Korsen -- called for preserving the trees. She pointed to other coastal cities, like Laguna Beach, which go out of their way to preserve city trees to frame ocean views.
"It takes several generations to grow a beautiful tree, but only a few hours to destroy it," she said.
There was also a contingent of residents who live near Casa Romantica who complained about the row of cypress trees planted along the property line. Christy Manetta said the cypress trees, planted in 2004, were planted too close together and now it's "as if it were a wall."
She said the trees are 60 feet high, 20 feet wide and were planted 10 feet apart. Even thinning them would be satisfactory, she said.
"I think if we learn to live with the trees and live with the people instead of letting them grow wild... I think people wouldn't have as big a problem with it," Manetta said.
No date was set for when council would discuss a draft ordinance.
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