HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/5/2017 Item 12, Lakeman
4 July 2017
Good Evening -
Mayor Heidi Harmon and City Councilors:
I am Sandra Lakeman, Architect and Emeritus Professor of
Architecture, SLO.
National Geographic reports that “if carbon emissions remain
unchecked deadly heat waves will grow steadily worse,
threatening up to 75 % of the world’s population by the end
of the century. In a 1995 heat wave, 740 Chicagoans died. In
2010 in Russia, 10,860 were killed in Moscow. Climate
change is spreading like a global forest fire.
“An average-sized tree produces enough oxygen in one year
to keep a family of four breathing for a year.” Nitrofill
“Everyday in summer, trees release about 29 tons of
oxygen into the air per square mile of forest. A person
breathes in 2 pounds of oxygen a day, so that would serve
10 thousand people. Every walk in the forest is like taking a
shower in oxygen.” The Hidden Life of Trees
With the numerous developments underway in SLO, we
have need to worry about our air. 71 Palomar will take 55
trees out of 59 mature trees; San Luis Ranch will take 244
out and according to the Cannon Tentative Tract Map #3
Tree Removal, they will be taking out 65 trees along
Madonna Road; Imel will take out 75 of and Avila Ranch will
take out 64 of 165. This is a total of 452 trees. These trees
provide habitat for special status Avian species and
wintering Monarch Butterflies. The eagles making a
comeback from Marin to Santa Barbara will certainly stop
here.
I encourage the Developer to keep as many of the mature
Blue Gum Eucalyptus as possible and to re-design the
layout of the housing in a much more interesting and
thoughtful way with housing placed throughout the major
trees on the site with a mix of social diversities as well and
more affordable housing.
With the water crisis in California and the USA’s withdrawal
from the Paris Accord we cannot expect newly planted trees
to grow to the size of the trees at Palomar or San Luis
Ranch, and therefore we should work together to keep them
alive, along with the birds and wildlife.
Notably, the Friends of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve has
recently voted to modify the original plan to remove all of
their Eucalyptus and will instead retain those larger than
18”in diameter.
With additional time spent on the site planning I believe that
more trees and their valuable habitats can be integrated with
the living units to provide a richly fresh opportunity to live
within Nature, implementing the City’s mitigation policy “to
develop and maintain a park system at a rate of 10 acres of
parkland per 1,000 residents.
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