Saratoga News

Tree commission guidelines are offered as 'helpful hints'

By Clarence Cromwell

There are no new tree fees, tree protection zones or other rules pertaining to construction near trees in the tree protection handbook adopted Jan. 17 by the Saratoga City Council.

But the book will contain a previously deleted section that explains to developers how to draw up a tree preservation plan. Although the tree plans won't be a requirement, as the now-defunct tree committee had suggested, the council agreed to include the passage as a suggestion to developers.

They did so at the urging of the Planning Commission, whose members on Jan. 2 praised the work of the tree committee and then recommended City Council acceptance.

Planning Commissioner Henry Murakami, a member of the former tree committee that forged the handbook, described the restored passage as a "helpful hint."

"We just wanted to see a few things left in there," Murakami said. "We all thought it was a good idea."

City Council members voiced praise as well. "I think we're ending up with a good tool for people who are developing their property," Vice Mayor Gillian Moran said .

"Our trees are a signature," Councilmember Don Wolfe said. "This is just an indication to me of how sacred we hold our trees."

Some Saratogans asserted the opposite of that claim last summer.

The council was criticized last June when it axed the tree committee and then whittled down the tree protection guidelines, telling the planning staff to remove all references to proposed new policies from the document.

The committee was dissolved because its work was completed, councilmembers said. They rejected the original draft of the handbook as too punitive.

The tree committee intended its handbook to be accompanied by changes in the city codes. They proposed a refundable tree deposit, to ensure that developers would protect each tree on a construction site; a developer would get the money back when an arborist certified the trees' health. The committee also suggested requiring tree protection plans for construction sites, detailing how trees would be shielded from damage during construction, paving and excavation.

The council decided Oct. 25 to form a new committee on tree matters, tentatively called the Heritage Tree Replacement Committee. Councilmembers Karen Tucker and Ann Marie Burger started the committee with plans to begin a free tree-planting program in the city.

The tree protection handbook, authored primarily by Lisa Kurasch, should be available within a week at the community development offices in City Hall, City Planner George White said. The free book contains 28 pages of information about tree protection and maintenance.

For more information, call White at 867-3438.