SR 01-24-2017 8A
Ci ty Council
Report
City Council Meeting : January 24, 2017
Agenda Item: 8.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Susan Cline, Director , Public Works, Public Landscape
Subject: Urban Forest Master Plan Update
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that Council adopt the proposed revisions to the City of Santa
Monica Urban Forest Master Plan.
Executive Summary
The Urban Forest Master Plan (Master Plan) serves as a guide for perpetuating ,
managing and enhancing Santa Monica’s urban forest. The plan establishes guiding
principles, associated goals and more specific strategies to ensure co mmunity
stewardship and best management practices for the urban forest. The proposed
revisions would evolve the Master Plan to ensure its relevance in maintaining a
sustainable, resilient and highly functioning urban forest for the community. The
proposed revisions fall into three categories . First, new information that enhances
protection of trees and wildlife, the removal process, appeals process, tree valuation
and staff operations. Second, clarification of existing information that further defines
thing s such as best management practices, species selection and urban forest
management metrics, and third, grammar and punctuation corrections. Staff presented
an overview of the proposed revisions to numerous boards, commissions, appointed
bodies and neighbor hood groups, and the Urban Forest Task Force (Task Force)
unanimously approved the proposed revisions at its November 16, 2016 public meeting.
Background
On April 7, 2009 (Attachment A), Council approved the establishment of the Urban
Forest Task Force to advise staff on the development of a long -range urban forest
master plan, review specific urban forest issues, and serve in an advisory capacity to
City Council until completion of the Master Plan.
On September 22, 2009 (Attachment B), Council appointed the seven -member Task
Force to advise staff through the completion of the Master Plan , and on April 10, 2012
(Attachment C), Council reconstituted an Urban Forest Task Force for seven years as
an advisory body to support the implementation of the Urban For est Master Plan.
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On December 13, 2011 (Attachment D), Council adopted the Proposed City of Santa
Monica Urban Forest Master Plan, which also includes a Street Tree Designations List
to replace street trees by street segment under strict removal criteria.
The Master Plan is the result of over two years of community input, research and
planning by the Council appointed Urban Forest Task Force . The process involved
extensive public input through surveys, community workshops and regular and special
meetings of the Task Force. The Master Plan is an adaptive document that
acknowledges the needs of the urban forest and will fluctuate over time. Therefore , the
proposed revisions are part of a process to evolve the Master Plan so it continues to
deliver strategic vision and guidance on the management and governance of the City’s
urban forest.
Discussion
As a result of the utilization of the Master Plan during the past five years, staff and the
Task Force have identified necessary revisions to its content and vis ion. These
revisions evolve the Master Plan to take account of climate change, maximize its
effectiveness and sustainability while supporting a positive partnership of collaboration
on the care of the City’s urban forest. Staff presented an overview of the changes,
focusing primarily on species selection and planting prioritization , to the following 11
boards, commissions, appointed bodies and neighborhood groups for their input before
the Task Force meeting on November 16, 2016:
Planning Commission
La ndmarks Commission
Recreation and Parks Commission
Task Force on the Environment
Water Advisory Committee
Architectural Review Board
Friends of Sunset Park
North of Montana Association
Ocean Park Association
Santa Monica Mid -City Neighbo rs
Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition
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All boards, commissions, appointed bodies and neighborhood groups were supportive
of the proposed revision s . The primary concern was that significant streets within the
City do not lose their character. This wo uld be addressed by creating individual planting
plans for these streets by the Species Subcommittee of the Task Force. Additionally,
greater tree care education was requested to preserve the urban forest, particularly
during the drought. Therefore, greate r educational outreach would be developed in
addition to planting more species that require minimal additional irrigation.
The proposed revisions are summarized into the three categories of new information,
clarification of existing information, and gramma r and punctuation corrections and were
unanimously approved by the Urban Forest Task Force at its November 16, 2016 public
meeting.
New Information
The following information would be added to Chapter Two - Guiding Principles of the
Master Plan:
Inclus ion of the legal protection of the city’s trees through the Santa Monica’s
Municipal Code (SMMC 7.40 Tree Code).
Notification requirement for removals for all public trees, not just street trees.
Young trees under five -inch diameter at breast height (DB H) would not require
notification. Younger trees typically have a higher mortality rate during the
establishment phase of 24 months. Adding this would enable staff to quickly
replace those trees that may die.
Industry recognized tree valuation protocol from the Council of Tree and
Landscape Appraisers. This valuation protocol is currently used and its inclusion
in the M aster P lan is appropriate to ensure transparency and awareness of this
practice. This protocol ensures tree canopy is not adversely impac ted by the loss
of healthy public trees when they need to be removed due to construction
projects, traffic accidents, and other events by planting new trees . The number of
replacement trees planted is based on the species, size and condition of the tree
re moved. Currently, tree valuation is not included in the M aster P lan.
Language prohibiting the disruption of wildlife during tree care operations.
Language to allow staff to update text in the appendices t hroughout the
document with the approval of the Task Force. The appendices of the Master
Plan are the tree care guidelines and species designations. Therefore, this would
allow for the timely updating of this key information because it affects day -to -day
urban forest operations. As of now, even minor o perational changes to the
Master Plan would need Council approval.
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Language to expand the appeal process . Currently, the public can only appeal
the City’s decision to remove a tree. Staff proposes to add language that would
allow the public to appeal the City’s decision to not remove a public tree. In both
instances appeals would be heard by the Task Force.
Criteria added to define species selection and planting prioritization for street
trees.
Clarification of Existing Information - Chapter Two
Below is a table that describes the current language and proposed updates to the
Guiding Principles section of the Urban Forest Master Plan (Chapter Two ):
Current Proposed
Broad language describing the goal of the
City’s urban forest providing
environmental be nefits to the community.
Definition of sustainable forest
management and sustainable urban forest
management metrics.
Heritage Tree program was identified as a
potential strategy to increase public
understanding of the urban forest.
Heritage Tree progr am has since been
operationalized and launched.
Broad language stating the City will follow
best management practices and industry
standards, but these are not defined in the
current master plan.
Precise industry standards and best
management practices would be defined
for tree pruning, planting, risk
management and preservation during
construction.
Canopy priority listed as a strategy for
enhancing the urban forest but without
clear strategic goals defined.
Add street tree planting prioritization
base d on urban forest metrics,
environmental need and human need.
Tree removal criteria found in the
appendices and only includes street trees,
not all public trees.
Tree removal criteria moved from the
appendices to the Guiding Principles
section due to i ts importance and
expanded to include all public trees.
Number of days for the public notification
of street tree removals is currently 14
business days. Other public trees do not
require public notification.
Reduce public notification from 14 to 10
bus iness days to streamline the process.
This would apply to all public tree
removals, not only street trees.
Increasing the City’s tree canopy cover
identified as a strategy but with no
specified goal.
The goal for increasing urban tree canopy
(UTC) over public property would be a 5%
increase over 10 years.
Current single species will not exceed
10% of the public tree population.
I ncrease the species diversity goal to a
maximum of 5% for any one species and
add that any family (genus ) would not
exceed 1 0%. This would add far greater
environmental resilience to the urban
forest by limiting the over -planting of
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species .
Clarification of Existing Information - Species Designations in the Appendices
After an extensive review of the current street tree pl anting program, staff worked with
the Task Force’s species subcommittee to modify this section for the reasons below:
Increase use of drought resilient species.
Replace poorly performing species or those not available from nurseries with
those that wou ld thrive better based on site conditions.
Improved and systematic matching of species based on growing space size and
surrounding conditions such as overhead wires. This would reduce the use of
larger species, such as Ficus, on narrow parkways.
These c hanges would ultimately improve the sustainability and function of the urban
forest while meeting the species diversity goal.
Grammar and Punctuation
Minor grammar and punctuation edits would be made throughout the document.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the
recommended action.
Prepared By: Carlos Collard, Senior Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. April 7, 2009 Staff Report (web link)
B. September 22, 2009 Staff Report (web link)
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C. April 10, 2012 Staff Report (web link)
D. December 13, 2011 Staff Report (web link)
E. Powerpoint Presentation
URBAN FOREST
MASTER PLAN
2017 UPDATE
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan |
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Urban Forest Master Plan 2017 Update
Presentation Overview:
•Snapshot of City’s Urban Forest
•New Information to be Added
to the Plan
•Clarification of Existing
Information within the Plan
•Public Outreach on Plan Updates
Snapshot of Santa Monica’s Urban Forest
33,500 public trees
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Why are we Updating the Master Plan?
Living
Document 5 Years Old
Operational
Updates Research
Metrics
Sustainability
and Resilience
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
New Information to be Added
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Specify Public Tree Valuation
Size Species Condition Location
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Clarify Existing Information
10% to 5%
Increase Tree
Canopy by 5%
over 10 years
Sustainable
Urban Forest
Management
Metrics
Net Tree
Gain/Loss
Annual
Species
Diversity
Annual
Street Tree
Stocking
Annual
Young Tree
Mortality
5 years
Ecosystem
Services
5 years
Urban Tree
Canopy
10 years
Pl
a
n
t
i
n
g
P
r
i
o
r
i
t
y
Urban Forest
Metrics
Environmental
Index
Population
Vulnerability
Po
p
u
l
a
t
i
o
n
V
u
l
n
e
r
a
b
i
l
i
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y
Population
Density
Proximity to
Schools
Age Index
Means of
Transportation
Updated the Species Designations
Challenges with 2011 Urban
Forest Master Plan Species
•Unsuccessful New Species
•Not Available
•Species Not Linked to Grow
Space Size
•Not Drought Resilient
•Invasive
•Only One Species Selected
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Current Future
City of Santa Monica |8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Public Outreach 1.Planning Commission
2.Landmarks Commission
3.Recreation & Parks Commission
4.Task Force on the Environment
5.Water Advisory Committee
6.Architectural Review Board
7.Friends of Sunset Park
8.North of Montana Association
9.Ocean Park Association
10.Santa Monica Mid City Neighbors
11.Wilshire Montana Neighborhood
Coalition City of Santa Monica | 8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Thank You
City of Santa Monica | 8A Urban Forest Master Plan|
Staff recommends that
Council adopt the
proposed revisions to the
City of Santa Monica
Urban Forest Master Plan