HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/26/2021 Item 2, Christie
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Santa Lucia Sierra Club <
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:RE: 5/26/21 meeting, Item #2 - Review of a Tentative Tract Map
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TO: San Luis Obispo Planning Commission
RE: 5/26/21 meeting, Item #2 - Review of a Tentative Tract Map to Create 23 Residential Lots on a 4.98 acre lot
Dear Commissioners,
The Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization, represents the
Club’s 2,500 members and supporters in SLO County. We are submitting this comment in regard to the 17 trees in a riparian corridor
and 3 redwoods elsewhere on site that are proposed to be removed to accommodate the applicant’s project.
Staff is characterizing as a fire hazard trees that are, in fact, fire resistant, and citing the avoidance of revisions to the applicant’s
design as a rationale for the removal of trees from the site.
We point out that San Luis Obispo’s urban canopy is severely lacking, and that trees play a vital role in mitigating climate change,
sequestering millions of tons of carbon that would otherwise pollute our climate. According to the National Climate Assessment from
the U.S. Global Change Research Program, trees absorb and store the equivalent of 16 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted annually
by fossil fuel burning in the United States.
The project before you could serve as the place to begin a shift in the priorities with which the City approaches trees in a proposed
development not as a potential hazard and/or inconvenience to be removed, but a public necessity to be preserved.
The following links are from the website of California ReLeaf, which works statewide to promote alliances among community-based
groups, individuals, industry, and government agencies to preserve, protect, and enhance California’s urban and community forests.
They provide a wealth of information on the role of urban trees in stormwater management, how to credit trees for runoff and
pollutant reduction, and the role of trees in protecting city residents from excessive heat and helping to improve air and water quality:
Website: Green Infrastructure (American Society of Landscape Architects)
Article: Making Urban Trees Count (Center for Watershed Protection)
Urban areas, which consume the majority of our resources, should minimize our impacts upon resources and the environment. We
urge the city to begin asking applicants to incorporate on-site trees into their proposed projects.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Andrew Christie, Director
Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club
P.O. Box 15755
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406
(805) 543-8717
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