City
Prepares to Remove Carob Trees |
By Jorge Casuso
November 24 – The City of Santa Monica will begin
removing 44 failing carob trees, many of them in the upscale North
of Montana neighborhood, pending the go-ahead from the City Council
Tuesday night.
The decision comes six months after the council delayed action
when residents complained the City failed to inform them that some
300 carob trees were slated for removal across the city.
The City already has removed 98 of the trees deemed at "high
risk of failure," meaning they were likely to fail, had a large
part that was likely to fail and were in "high-use" areas,
said Walt Warriner, the City's urban forester.
After further study, 189 trees with a lower risk of failure were
reassessed by the City, Warriner said. Of these, 177 trees are recommended
for removal -- 74 have “very poor viability,” 91 have
“poor viability” and 12 “moderate viability.”
The other 12 trees will be pruned.
“None of the 177 trees were considered to be in good health
or condition,” Joan Akins, acting director of Community Maintenance
wrote in a report to the council. “The displacement of pavement
by roots and the associated root pruning requirements limits their
viability as street trees.”
Signs will be posted on the targeted trees, and the trees will
be removed two weeks after the posting.
Members of Treesavers, a group formed to fight the removal of Downtown
ficus trees, said there is a better relationship between City officials
and residents.
“It seems that they’re improving their dialogue with
neighbors,” said Jerry Rubin, the leader of Treesavers. “But
we want to get more information and details. They’re trying
to save a few, and that’s positive as well.”
Residents had complained that the City did not inform them of plans
to remove 300 of the city’s 630 carob trees officials said
were failing, putting property and residents at risk.
The residents only found out about the plan when the City called
a press conference to announce its plan. The conference drew more
residents than reporters. The council then delayed the item and
reassessed the trees.
During the past six years, staff has recorded nearly 90 failures
of carob trees throughout the City, Akins said. Of those, more than
40 have taken place since July 1, 2005.
Two of the tree failures have damaged cars, and there have been
four known limb failures, she said.
“The tree failures have occurred during all types of weather
and range from limb to total tree failure,” Akins wrote in
her report.
“The majority of the failures involve decay in the limbs,
the trunk, or root mass,” she wrote. “The presence of
this decay is not always visible on the tree’s exterior.”
City staff has been working with neighborhood associations to select
appropriate species to replace the trees slated for removal, Akins
said.
The plan to remove the carob trees comes in the wake of the controversial
removal or relocation of 30 of the 157 ficus trees that line 2nd
and 4th streets Downtown to pave the way for an $8.2 million streetscape
project.
Treesavers has called on the council to establish a Tree Commission
that would give residents a say in planning the city's urban forest.
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