City Looks at Ocean Views Versus the Trees That Block Them

The city will set its sights on the tension between oceanfront views and the trees that block them at Tuesday’s San Clemente City Council meeting.

At stake are the benefits of a healthy urban forest versus the beauty and boost to property values from unobstructed ocean vistas. City staffers in their report to council point out the value of having lush "urban forest" to clean the air, control erosion and provide breathing space and aesthetic value to a city. But sometimes vegetation can block private residential or commercial views of the ocean, which has real financial consequences for property owners, according to the staff report.

The staff is seeking direction from council on creating a policy for protecting views and dealing with trees on public property. But staffers recommend against heavy regulation of vegetation on private property.

Regulating trees on private property quickly becomes "a very complex, expensive and time-consuming process," according to the staff report. And, because of natural tree growth over time, "solutions arrived at through bureaucratic processes are rendered irrelevant."

In other words, trees aren’t very good at following the rules.

The San Clemente City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the San Clemente Civic Center, 100 Ave. Presidio.

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