The Zoom meeting is now online.
Link: click here
Passcode: CZ9T7^rE
January 6, the first Monday of the year at noon, CPA will present a call-out by Rick Closson with Pearl Chase Society board members Cheri Rae and Emma Brinkman, PCS Vice-president. They will talk about the fate of the Italian Stone Pines on Anapamu Street.
On January 14, the appeal will be heard at the regular Tuesday afternoon City Council meeting. The gist is that the California Environmental Quality Act requires environmental review of what amounts to delisting of landmarked trees and their replacement with oaks. (The landmarking was done by City Council resolution in 1997.) Such delisting must be done by the City Council, not by its advisory commissions.
Decided at a recent Parks & Recreation meeting, on the recommendation of the PRC subsidiary, the Street Tree Advisory Committee (STAC), was a replacement of the Stone Pines, Pinus pinea, with Coast Live Oaks, Quercus agrifolia, often used as street trees, especially to provide shade. Handsome trees, with extensive roots, they’re well-suited for wide parkways without immediately adjacent sidewalks and underground utilities. (See: ChatGPT for pros and cons.) …
The 5-member STAC, a Brown Act committee, meets monthly at the Parks office on 402 E. Ortega Street, 8:30 A.M., and the meetings are not televised or apparently recorded for the public. Their recommendations are usually adopted by the PRC.
The appeal argues that it is the sole authority of the Landmark-designating City Council “to establish – or revoke – landmark designations and attendant protections for features within the City”, contending that “the PRC does not have the authority – by immediate direct action or prolonged incremental action – to de-landmark these trees.”
Rick Closson has been actively researching and presenting information on the Stone Pines to the City Council for years. The PCS worked hard during the recent drought to supply water to the Anapamu trees. This looks to be a fascinating presentation of the intersection of the challenges of urban street trees and the roles of government, City Council and its advisory boards.