The Cupertino Courier

News

Commission postpones decision on city tree ordinance

By Cody Kraatz

Residents who have been waiting for changes to Cupertino's tree ordinance will have to wait another month for the planning commission to make its final recommendations.

Commissioners voted Jan. 23 to postpone a final vote on an amended tree ordinance to their Feb. 27 meeting. The commission has been reviewing the ordinance since September.

The commission did reach consensus on a fee-based "carrot and stick" approach to discouraging illegal tree removal, but disagreed on several other components of the proposed amendment.

According to the proposed fee change, residents who remove trees legally would pay significantly lower fees: $150 per tree, plus $75 for each additional tree. Residents who apply for a removal permit after a tree has already been removed would pay $3,000. Other cities in the area charge only a couple of hundred dollars for a tree removal permit.

According to Cupertino's current regulations, residents are charged a $2,536 application fee for removal of a tree that requires a hearing before the planning commission. There is an $819 removal fee if the director of community development handles the application review. These fees are collected so the city can recover administrative expenses.

"Our tree ordinance today is not working. We need to look at how we can educate our public, how we can enforce the ordinance, and I think that the policy we're looking at is getting us closer, but we're not quite there," said Commissioner Gilbert Wong.

One controversial element of the amendment is potentially high in-lieu fees that people would pay for removing large, old trees if they could not plant a replacement tree, and how that money would be spent.

The commission also split on whether the permitting requirements should differ between trees in the front and rear of a house. Another point was which, if any, trees should be added to the city's list of protected trees.

Currently only oak, California buckeye, big leaf maple, deodar cedar and blue atlas cedar are protected. Lisa Giefer, who was elected as commission chairwoman at the meeting, pressed for additional trees along with several enthusiastic residents who spoke at the meeting.

"Saying that adding trees to the list is burdensome is specious and somewhat hard to understand," said resident Gail Bower, who would like to see more native trees added to the list.

"If by our own ordinance, the purpose of it is to recognize the substantial economic, environmental and aesthetic importance of our tree population, we should be adding more trees to that list to encompass the population, not just a few very special trees."

The city arborist and city naturalist have recommended that coast redwood, incense cedar, western sycamore, California bay laurel, black cottonwood, white alder and box elder be added to that list.

City staff did not recommend adding any trees to the list, arguing it would be too confusing.

"We have enough to deal with on the enforcement issue," said Steve Piasecki, director of community development, in an interview prior to the meeting. His department would oversee the majority of tree removal applications.

"I'm for expanding that list, which is the position that I've been advocating since we've been discussing this at midnight for months," said Giefer.

Only heritage or protected trees, those that have been found to have some historical or cultural value or are on the list of protected species, would require a planning commission hearing and approval to be removed.

The city would review applications for tree removal and pass them on to the commission if the tree is protected. For unprotected trees, the site will continue to be inspected by the community development department with priority given to diseased or hazardous trees, under the proposed amendment.

There is no fee for dead or diseased trees, said Aki Snelling, a senior planner with the city.

The Cupertino Department of Public Works would have to abide by the ordinance and go through the permitting process when removing trees.

Residents must apply for a tree removal permit from the Cupertino Community Development Department. Forms and information are available online at www.cupertino.org; search for "download tree removal form."

The form asks applicants to list the species, size and location of each tree and attach an explanation of why each tree should be removed.

Residents can also report code violations to 408.777.3200.