HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/23/2022 Item 4a, Aten
Delgado, Adriana
Whipple, Anthony
Sent:Monday, May 16, 2022 1:05 PM
To:Agenda Correspondence Routing
Cc:Cruce, Greg
Subject:FW: 430 South Street
City Clerk,
I would like to forward a correspondence email received today 05/16/2022 for Item 4.a 439 Branch Street.
rd
Hearing Scheduled for May 23 2022 @5:30pm
Thank you,
Anthony Whipple
Urban Forester
Public Works
Urban Forest Services
25 Prado Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-7314
E awhipple@slocity.org
T 805.781.7021
C 805.431.0398
slocity.org
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From: Betty Aten <
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2022 10:57 AM
To: Whipple, Anthony <awhipple@slocity.org>
Cc: Stephanie <
Subject: 430 South Street
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Hello Anthony,
Thank you for forwarding this email to members of the Tree Committee. I will address my comments as if speaking to
the entire committee.
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It has come to my attention, after the fact, that the Tree Committee was presented with an appeal by the owners of the
adjacent property, to the Committee’s previous denial to remove a tree on my property at 430 South Street. I have since
had the opportunity to listen to the full recording of the session, and to have follow-up phone conversations with both
Anthony Whipple, and Jeremy Lowney who acted as the Schwan’s representative at the meeting.
I appreciate your willingness to postpone your decision about removing the tree until I have had an opportunity to
clarify some facts. This is not an easy decision and I also appreciate the Tree Committee’s diligence in researching the
situation before making a final decision.
I’d like to correct and/or clarify some points that were discussed at the most recent meeting.
• It is not true that maintenance has not been performed on the tree. Since purchasing the property in 2004, the tree in
question has been pruned three times. The first one was to remove dead branches caused by invasive ivy. The second
time was mainly to remove a branch hanging over the garage on my property, but also included other pruning. The most
recent pruning was done in June of 2021. A receipt is attached.
• The Schwans said the “I needed prodding” to have the most recent pruning done. The actual timeline is below:
- Feb., 2021 — Soon after I was contacted by the Schwans requesting that the tree be removed, I hired Rodney
Thurman, a certified arborist, to assess the health of the tree and recommend a course of action. His
report is attached. In spite of his determination that the tree was healthy, but in need of maintenance, I submitted an
application to remove the tree at the request of the
Schwans.
- April, 2021 — The application was denied.
- June, 2021 — Arbor First completed a thorough pruning based on the recommendations made by Rodney Thurman.
• Both my consultant and the Schwan’s brought up the idea of what I believe is called root trimming to assuage the
Schwan’s concern about the tree roots damaging their foundation. When I brought up the idea to the Schwans, they
refused to give permission for anyone to have access to their property for that purpose.
• The branch damage to the Schwan’s gutter happened prior to the latest pruning.
This is not the first confrontation between the Schwans and I over a tree. Several years ago (I’m sorry I don’t know the
exact date), the Schwans requested that I apply to have a “nuisance tree” removed from my property. Their concerns
were exactly the same as the ones they are basing their appeal on now. The Tree Committee voted in favor of allowing
me to remove that also healthy tree. While I have no proof of this, I believe the Tree Committee based their vote on
trying to spare me from additional harrassment by the Schwans.
While it’s sad to allow the removal of a healthy tree due to neighbor disagreement, I’m asking you to do just that. I’m
not in favor of giving in to bullying tactics, but the Schwans will not accept anything but removal of the tree, as indicated
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in an email to me on May 12, "If removal of the tree is denied, we will hold both you and the city personally responsible
for any and all damages caused by the tree from this point forward.”
Please approve the appeal and allow removal of the tree.
If approval is granted, I have two requests:
1. That the removal occur after the bird nesting season is complete as requested by one of the Committee members
2. That I be granted several months leeway in planting the replacement tree(s) in order to do so closer to the rainy
season. I’m concerned that a new planting will not have good survival chances during this extended drought.
Further, the Schwans may hire whomever they want to remove the tree, but I must be notified and approve of who will
do the work and the exact date, so that I may give my tenant proper notification.
Thank you in advance for approving this tree removal. Please contact me if you have further questions.
Respectfluly yours,
Betty Aten
805.503.9488
bettymaten@gmail.com
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