By Jason Islas
Staff Writer

December 15, 2011 -- The Santa Monica City Council Tuesday night passed an Urban Forest Master Plan staff believes will set a national standard for urban forestry, as well as a measure that would mean harsher penalties for cab drivers.

The Urban Forest plan, a comprehensive document that establishes detailed guidelines for managing Santa Monica's trees, is “the culmination of over two years of study, public input and deliberations,” outgoing Director of Community and Cultural Services Barbara Stinchfield told the Council Tuesday.

In addition to approving the plan -- which includes a street-by-street list of all the trees in the city and their designated replacements -- the council extended the term of the Urban Forest Task Force for the next seven years to help implement the plan.

After a U.S. Forest Service study several years ago revealed that Santa Monica's forest was aging, it became clear that “we needed a comprehensive reforestation plan to diversify the age and the species of our street trees,” Stinchfield said.

Former Mayor Judy Abdo, who was chair of the Urban Forest Master Plan Task Force, told the council that the plan would increase “age and species diversity, canopy coverage and biomass,” while “respecting neighborhood character.”

“Our children and our grandchildren will enjoy what we are planning now,” she said.

Perhaps the most controversial element of the plan was the Street Tree Designations List, which originally designated replacing many of the palm trees along 18th, 19th and 20th Streets, as well as along Marguerita Avenue with non-palm trees.

Residents turned out in droves to community meetings, gathered signatures and sent letters to the council, the task force and the City urging officials to replace palms with palms in order to maintain the character of the neighborhoods. The effort succeeded.

In response to concerns about non-palm trees being interplanted with palms on a section of 21st Street, Council members Bob Holbrook and Kevin McKeown pushed to have 21st Street treated like the neighboring streets to remain palm-only.

In a separate item, the Council voted to raise fines for cab drivers who don't charge the rates established by the City from $250 to $1,000. The measure would also increase the fine for cab drivers attempting to bribe a City official from $1,000 to between $5,000 to $10,000, or potential revocation of their licenses.

After the franchise law was implemented last December, cab companies have been required to set rates established by the City.

According to the staff report, the measure is an attempt to simplify the penalty structure and “to apply penalties based on the enforcement priorities of the City."

Raising the rates, the staff report says, should make it clear that these actions are examples of “serious misconduct.”