Tree removal requirements, long ago standardized for commercial properties within city limits, were defined for private property owners by the Sonoma City Council on Wednesday night.
As approved 3-2, the removal of a tree with a circumference greater than four and one-half feet at a height of four and one-half feet must be approved by the city. Anything smaller can be cut down at the property owner’s discretion.
To varying degrees, it was that freedom of choice that concerned the council members. Mayor Ken Brown, Steve Barbose and Laurie Gallian, the yes votes, drew the line at the street view. Earlier language that would have applied the rule to the entire property was changed to apply to the front yard only. “Let’s leave the backyards to the conscience of the community,” Barbose said.
Councilmember Joanne Sanders said she appreciated the intent of the proposal, but “I won’t vote for it. It infringes on personal rights.” She recalled her own experience of being forbidden to cut down an unhealthy tree. “It cost $1,000 to find out we had to keep a ratty tree,” she said. “As a homeowner, I could have done a better job myself.”
Like Sanders, council member August Sebastiani was concerned about government intrusion. “This is a solution in search of a problem,” he said. “I don’t know we have a huge deforestation problem in Sonoma.”
He also cited the possible liability of denying removal. “I’d hate to have on the conscience of the city any damage, injury or worse caused by a tree we did not allow to be removed.”
The council decision applies to both single and multiple family homes. It also exempts Eucalyptus trees, which can be removed without city permission regardless of size.
Allowing that not all large trees make ecological sense where planted, a provision for replanting a removed tree with the same species was voided. The council relaxed that provision to allow a choice of replacement trees from a list approved by the city’s Tree Committee.
The Community Services and Environmental Commission (CSEC) drafted the tree ordinance at the request of the City Council. Two members of the CSEC, and an arborist chosen from a rotating short list, make up the city’s Tree Committee, which is responsible for granting removal permits. Its decision can be appealed to the city council.
“The process helps a citizen make an informed decision,” CSEC Chair Nikolai Rimsky told the meeting. “They get the benefit of expertise.”
The council covered a lot of ground in its first meeting since July 15, appointing Chip Roberson to the Planning Commission and Kimberly Blattner to the CSEC.
Drawing the most public comment was the seemingly innocuous proposal for Mayor Brown to send a letter inviting billionaire philanthropist Donald Fisher to consider building his art museum, once slated for San Francisco’s Presidio, in Sonoma.
The debate was neatly summarized by two public speakers Wednesday night, both affiliated with the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Executive Director Kate Eilertsen said she would welcome and support any Fisher institution in Sonoma, while co-founder Gerry Simmel said it might increase visitors to the Valley, “but so would a Wal-Mart. Let’s not let a big-box museum come here and overshadow our local institution.”
Sanders, with the advice “not to get ahead of ourselves,” moved to send the letter “and let the process unfold.” It passed 5-0.
The Police Department had two requests approved. The first was to revise the city’s parking fine schedule to include late and delinquent payments. If you’re 30 days late on paying that ticket (itself higher since the rates went up in June), figure an additional penalty of 50 percent, to a maximum of $75. Delinquent accounts get reported to the DMV, which will not register a vehicle to a driver with outstanding traffic fines.
Another item requested by Police Chief Bret Sackett closed a procedural loophole that constrained officers from enforcing speed limits on certain segments of city roadways. ”It put the police in a quandary,” he said. “We couldn’t use radar. It affected enforcement.”
Under the resolution, speed limits will be dropped from 30 mph to 20 mph on Fifth Street West, between Andrieux and the Southern city limit, and on West MacArthur between 5th Street West and Broadway. Additionally, a special school safety zone will be established in front of Prestwood School, dropping the school-in-session speed limit from 25 mph to 15 mph.
Sassarini did not meet the criteria for such a zone, but Sackett said it is being studied for St. Francis, and other schools will be considered, as well.
The next City Council meeting, focused on consideration of the budget, will be September 2, 6 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room, 177 First St. W. The meeting will be broadcast live on SVTV Channel 27.
