HomeMy WebLinkAboutTC - Smith (TC 08-28-2017) 8/29/2017
Christian, Kevin
From:carolyn smith <cjsmith_107@yahoo.com>
Sent:Monday, August
To:Advisory Bodies; Combs, Ron
Subject:Tree Committee Meeting - 08/28/2017 - Garden Street and Other Tree Removal
Please forward this email to the members of the Tree Committee for today's meeting.
Chair Loosley and Committee Members:
I would like to express my extreme concern about the tree removal request before you today on
Garden and surrounding streets. If trees are not sickly and/or causing major sidewalk damage, they
should not be removed. The beauty of our downtown has a great deal to do with our wonderful
mature tree canopies that also provide shade and heat reduction in the downtown area. New
construction should not be a valid excuse for destroying trees. Additionally, studies show that mature
trees provide optimal carbon reduction. It takes new trees many many years to produce the same
carbon benefits as these downtown trees now provide.
Recently, there have been several developments approved, and more in the planning stages, that are
resulting in large numbers of trees being destroyed. This is backward thinking and backward policy
and goes against the very grain of our city's historically environmentally protective policies. We
should be requiring that new development designs be worked around these wonderful mature
trees. It can be done and the cost of a re-design shouldn't be an excuse to allow for this type of tree
removal. Additionally, replacing these mature trees with new trees, even if there is an increased ratio,
should not be an acceptable mitigation, particularly if there is a possibility that the trees can be
preserved with a little TLC.
Furthermore, it appears there is some doubt as to whether or not these trees are in fact beyond
saving. I have previously heard developers claim trees are in distress (even when they aren't) or are
damaging sidewalks in an effort to allow for their new development design. New construction should
not be an excuse to destroy the very qualities for which people want to move and live here. These
are important trees--important to our city's downtown character, charm, and beauty. Perhaps an
arborist should be hired, who is an expert in determining the health of a tree, to make a final
determination as to whether or not these trees can and/or should be saved.
Thank you for carefully considering this issue.
Carolyn Smith
38 year SLO resident
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