All right, I will now call to order uh this Wednesday, June 10th, 2026 meeting of the City of Mountain View's Parks and Recreation and Urban Forestry Board.

Alison, could you please conduct the roll call?

Commissioner Bryant, your Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sylvester, here, Vice Chair Summer, and Commissioner.

Here.

Okay, all five are present.

We'll now move on to minutes approval.

These are the minutes from the May 13, 2026 meeting.

And before we get to the commissioner, is there any public comment on the minutes from May 13th?

Nobody online.

All right.

Bring it back to Commissioners.

If anybody has a comment or would like to make a motion.

I was the outliner.

I'll go.

Okay.

I'll second.

Motion by Commissioner Davis and second by Commissioner Summer.

Um go ahead with the vote.

Commissioner Bryant.

Yes.

Commissioner Davis.

Commissioner Sylvester.

Yes.

Vice Chair Summer.

Yes.

Yes.

All right.

Uh oral communications from the public.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission on any matter not on the agenda.

Speakers are limited to three minutes, and state law prohibits the commission from acting on non-agenda items.

If you're in the room and would like to speak, if you could please fill out a blue speaker card.

And if you're online, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom.

And now it's in Flame a little bit.

No, see.

Our cards are on the phone.

Yeah.

Should be the I don't think we have the speaker time.

Oh, no problem.

You two monitor.

Okay.

So are you wishing to you can turn in the card in a moment if you want to speak in my neighborhood?

Go ahead.

Um, well, thank you.

I'm Linda Jekyll.

I'm a longtime resident at Villow Fark Condos.

They used to be a file.

This is about the appeal.

If this is if this is about the appeal that's on the agenda, this is this is not the time to.

I had no idea when you said on the agenda, I didn't know if it was on the agenda or not.

Yeah, no, that if this is about the um 500 West Middlefield Heritage Tree, that'll be coming up later and you'll have it.

Okay, so so this port is for people that have other things that are not very good.

I think there's more time.

So I think the logical thank you.

That's what I'll say while I'm standing.

Is there anybody in the room who uh we should would like to speak on a non-agenda?

Okay, anybody online?

All right, I will close uh public comment and we'll move on to new business.

Um, our first item tonight is uh item 5.1.

It's a heritage tree removal application appeal uh from 961 Eichler Drive.

And before we start, I want to introduce we have two city attorneys here today.

Um assistant city attorney Diana Fazelli will be representing city staff, and I believe she's online.

Hi, and yes, I wanted to also introduce assistant city attorney Francesca Serrano, who is there in person.

Hello.

Thanks, Diana.

Thank you.

And uh senior assistant city attorney Dave Wilgus will be representing the urban forestry board.

So the process uh for this appeal, uh, we'll we'll start off with a staff report, then the appellate will have 10 minutes, and then uh the PRC, uh also in a role as urban forestry board.

We'll have an opportunity for questions, then there will be public comment, then the staff will have two more minutes.

The appellant will have two more minutes, and then it'll come back to the urban forestry board for deliberation a motion and a vote.

Uh for this appeal, I believe we have one uh appellant and one, and it's the same as the owner, and that would be Elizabeth McMcanett.

So let's start.

I will turn it over to uh forestry manager Russell Hanson uh to present the staff report.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Sorry, I got lost my presentation.

So I'll trying to get that back up for you here.

But we need to work.

All right.

Oh, gotta play it.

Okay, so um again, thank you, commissioners.

Um, we're here this evening to talk about 961 IP for drive.

Um, as you can see from the photograph here, we're dealing with the tree that's in the front of the property, but is not considered a street tree in this case.

Um the particular details for this one.

Um, sorry, is it's one Quercus Pologi, otherwise known as a California black oak.

Um, we estimate it to have about a 20-inch diameter at standard height.

Um we believe that it has overall good health at the current time, and that the structure is fair.

Um, ultimately, the applicant, when they apply poor removal of the tree, um, the statements they made for the application was the tree is in poor health, the tree is in danger of falling, the tree is diseased with pests, insects or beetles, and the tree is growing in close proximity to structure and causing damage or will do so in the near future.

So when we actually look at the tree in question, um, the photograph on the left is representative of the trenching that was done, the property owners prior to applying with us, or at least prior to us inspecting it, had done some trenching um adjacent to the tree.

Um, you can see the one trench that comes from the home out towards the street, gets to within about 12 to 18 inches.

I'm going to say from the tree, might be a little bit more than that.

Um, and then also makes a turn and goes over towards the driveway.

And so some significant trenching.

Um, you can see the photo on the right is after they backfilled it to where you can't see the trenches any longer.

So if you didn't get a chance to see it while you're on site, you wanted to make sure you had these.

Um, when I look at the photograph on the left, um, that's representative of all the roots that were cut.

Um, you can just barely see in that same picture, kind of the top left, there's one small root that's starting to come down off of the root flare right there.

That there, that very left hand um arrow would ultimately indicate that appears to be a clump of about three roots.

It's not actually one large root, but that is three smaller roots, all I'm gonna say two to three inches, and then it's kind of equivalent on those other arrows.

There were, I'm gonna say estimate 12 to 15 roots that we feel like were cut as a part of that trenching.

Um, again, what I would say is to the left side of the tree.

Um, above and beyond that, the reason we're saying the structure is fair to pour, is ultimately because it has poor live crown ratio.

Um, you can see on the photo to the right, the majority of the canopy.

There's only about 40% canopy at the top, and then there's 60% of the stem that has no structural branches that has no leaves, etc.

Again, that's problematic just simply because it creates some additional stresses on those branches to where when the wind blows or otherwise that union at the bottom is gonna be a little bit more pressured.

And ultimately the tree has a harder time, I'll say compensating because without the foliage or otherwise those structural branches, we're not getting as much sugar and starches.

We're not getting to getting that diameter to develop the way we typically would to support the branches because the sugars and starches just aren't coming from the leaves that are no longer there.

And so that's the real issue we're talking about with the live crown ratio is not only does it set it up poorly, but then it doesn't recover as well either.

So um when we looked at the tree as well, the photograph on the left.

Kind of hard to see, but just about where the skyline starts over the roof of that house in the background.

There was about an eight-inch limb that was removed from that location.

Um that ultimately pretty sure.

Yes, that is the one that was pre-existing.

Um from when we got there.

Yes, I kind of would be.

Um you please check and see if the appellant is online.

Yeah, is good question.

Um, so the only two people I see online are an eight plus tree arborist, which I think is for middlefield, and then Gina, who I also think is for middle field.

Yes, so is uh so Elizabeth McAnage, is she here as on her?

We had confirmation originally, but we haven't talked to her this week.

Correct.

So should we pause this one and maybe do the other?

Well, what are you thinking about, Dave?

Well, um, this came up previously and it was properly noticed, and the appellant got notice, you know, it's a proper meeting.

What would you proceed?

Absent some indication that she didn't get proper notice, yes.

Director Mark Stock, do you have an opinion?

They're here.

Oh, we would nice.

I don't I don't there's no legal issue with doing the other one first to see if she comes, is there?

No legal.

Yeah, no, no, I think it's just I don't think we have to use it, but I think in that case you would just make a motion to hear item 5.24.

Yeah, I mean if it's that one, if people are okay with it.

I I guess I would I could flip flop them and and give the appellant an opportunity to actually be.

I mean, if she isn't here, we'll we'll continue it like we would.

Um is that okay with that?

Definitely, but I don't we know how to reach them, and we do what I'm trying to do is see if I can maybe she went to city hall.

I would hope not.

That was the one for next week that we did a double follow-up on.

So maybe switching that would give us time to reach out, yeah.

So maybe we could have 5.2.

So I can capture and present 5.2.

All right.

Let's do that.

Let's let's let's flip-flop.

Sorry, so I I think you might have to make a motion.

Yeah, I would make a motion to take it out of order.

Okay, so I'll make a motion that we flip-flop items 5.2 and 5.1 to give um the appellant and 5.1 a little bit more opportunity.

Excuse me.

A comment are the people for 500 middlefield all here.

There's two of us here, basically.

And there's two online, and the other two on my appellant is in here.

Okay, the Evan Fuller.

I'm just gonna make sure no one else is put anything.

Okay, apparently the appellant 5.2 is not here either.

No, online.

Gina is the appellant when she confirmed that she was online.

Okay, so for Evan, I believe you're here on behalf of the applicant for 500 middle fields.

Uh yeah, that's correct.

She just asked me to be present to try to clarify any uh any questions or concerns you guys might have about the application.

Let's see.

All right, heel rather.

Yeah, just technically.

Yeah, I'll go through.

I'll go through the HRA.

But is he the only one that's representing them?

Or is she planning?

I'll I'll let's just bring it back.

So did you make a motion?

Yeah, I'm gonna make a motion that we flip-flop 5.2 and 5.1.

So so I guess the clarifying thing is is this gentleman the only person that's planning on speaking on behalf of the applicant for 500 middlefield?

Maybe the applicant would know that and looking as the applicant because it's just supposed to be.

Well, it's the appellant and the appellant is on, so that's the Gina has raised hand.

Yeah, I mean, Gina see what Tina is on online.

Yes, this is the appellant.

That's the appellant.

I think.

And Gina, are you prepared if we take this item now?

Sure.

Yes, me and my husband are prepared.

Yep.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

All right.

So let's I made a motion.

Okay, one second.

Okay.

We can just take a we just take a verbal vote.

Uh yeah.

So Commissioner Bryant, Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sylvester.

Oh, sorry.

Vice Chair Summer.

Yes.

And Chairman Shang.

Yes.

Okay.

So switching again.

And I so I want to start this and go through all the uh formalities since this is a different appeal.

I want we are taking 5.2 heritage tree appeal, 500 West Middlefield Road.

Um again, I will introduce the attorneys.

We have assistant city attorney Diana Fizzelli representing city staff.

And I didn't jot down the name.

So Diana, if you could reintroduce.

Sure.

Okay, go ahead.

Assistant city attorney Francesca Clarano.

And are you also representing city staff?

Yes.

I'm just writing this down for the next one.

Okay.

And then senior assistant attorney Dave Williams will be representing the urban forestry board.

This uh the process on this one, uh, we'll have a staff report.

Uh the appellant will then have 10 minutes.

Uh the PRC Urban Forestry Board will ask questions.

Uh, we'll then take public comment.

Then staff will have an additional two minutes.

The appellant will have two minutes, and then the urban forestry board uh will deliberate, take a motion and vote.

For the purpose of this, I just want to um clarify all the players on this.

Um, the appellant are as Gina and Dave win.

Um so they are the ones that that actually have status in this uh on this this item.

However, uh, if there are if they would like to cede some of their time to the HOA board or to the uh owner, um uh they they're welcome to do that, but it would flow through the appellant on this.

Okay, and with that, uh Russell Hansen will kick off with the staff report.

Thank you, Commissioner.

All right, sure.

Okay, so we are here this evening uh to talk about 500 Middlefield Road, here it is tree appeal, which is ultimately an HOA complex.

Um, you can see in the photograph here the redwood tree in question that we're talking about this evening, is internal to the complex, so it is considered a private tree.

Um, the tree itself is a Sequoia Sempervirant, a post-redwood that has approximately a 30 inch diameter.

We considered it to be in good health with fair structure.

Um the applicant themselves listed that the tree does not have proper growth space, as well as the tree is growing in close proximity to structures and causing damage or will in the near future.

So we're talking about basically growth space and damage.

Um little bit more close-up.

Um, what we did is we took a patio or shot from the patio and that photo to the left.

So looking back at the tree, the tree is actually outside in the common area of the HOA, um, that this is a private patio for the property owners themselves.

Um so you can see the tree on the left with condition of the fence, you go to the right, that is actually taken from the outside that you can see um there is still some few inches maybe of clearance as it goes up the stem of the trunk, um, but that ultimately um you can kind of see that bend at the base where the root flare has started to kind of displace that fence a little bit.

Um, when we go back to the inside, you can see on the photograph to the left that we're talking about damage in that kind of far corner um of the patio.

It is paper bricks or otherwise.

Um, and then that photograph on the right, you can get a little bit better close-up of it, and you can see that there's approximately a one-inch lift on that patio.

If I were to estimate distance of lift, we're probably talking about 24 inches or so of patio that has started the lift, and so ultimately um go back to that.

Our belief was that based off of the damage that we're seeing here, the fence still could be cut or slightly modified to accommodate that root flare at the base without creating any major security or access issues, kind of a thing for the property owner.

And then as well, when it came to the pavers, ultimately we decided that because in fact they are pavers, that it would be fairly simple to be able to remove the pavers, examine whatever roots are there, likely be able to cut them.

Our guess is that this is likely one root that is causing the damage, and it is almost completely adjacent to the tree itself, where we saw that root flare coming down.

And so ultimately, again, our feeling is it was just one root that is likely to need to be cut at this point.

But again, we would hope to be able to remove the pavers, make a better judgment call on that in the future.

So our final findings were that we did not find that the condition of the tree itself required its removal at this time.

We did not find that removal of the heritage tree was necessary in order to construct improvements.

We did not feel that the tree or the structure of the canopy was in such condition that it needed to be removed.

We felt it could it was good and could be managed with proper care.

And then ultimately we did not find that the tree should be removed due to good forestry practices because there was not any kind of like significant density or otherwise that this was creating any other conflict or otherwise.

That's all I have for it.

Thank you.

All right, we'll now move on to the um Helen, and that would be Gina and Dave Gwynn.

Again, you have 10 minutes if you want to allocate some of that time to others.

Uh your free.

And if I'll let you go ahead and if you could just clarify whether you are the owner of 149 or whether uh a um renter, I'm not sure what those status is on this um complex.

So I'll turn it over to you guys.

They're owners.

Hi, uh yeah.

So uh thank you for giving us this time.

You know, part of it we would like to allocate um to A1, you know, for the the tree service, you know, just for the arborist to give his kind of overview.

But um we are the homeowners.

Um, my wife actually owned it before we met.

Um, she's lived at the complex or owned the the condo for about 14 years, and we don't have we're not someone you know, we're not a couple that doesn't like trees.

We like the tree, the redwood tree next to that um that is very much separated from the fence.

The biggest issue for us is that it's you know a risk to our safety, it's a risk to the safety of other residents in the within the community and also the damage that it's doing to our property.

So, what what started this was the uh there was a bunch of debris underneath the aggregate uh patio that was originally there, and when we removed a lot of that debris, we found that it had completely lifted about uh four by six foot section and cracked the aggregate and lifted it up.

So that's what started this whole project of redoing our whole patio.

So the HOA agreed to cover that cost, and they suggested that we put in a paver brick patio.

So if in the event something happened, we could trim the root system down.

Um when they did all of that stuff in preparation for the new pavers, we also paid to have a whole brand new fence put in.

The new fence cost is just under $8,000 with the lattice work and everything like that.

And that was only a few years ago.

And as you can see, the damage from the root base, uh, the base of the tree, it's already putting pressure additional pressure and it's bowing that whole um uh 10 foot section of fencing.

There was a cutout that was done at the bottom to compensate for any type of future growth.

And when they were doing the cutting prior to installing the pavers, I tried to get them to cut deeper.

Um, because it, you know, I already knew that it was this was gonna happen in like a year, year and a half or something like that, that it was going to start lifting things back up, and they didn't feel comfortable doing anything more just because they felt that it would destabilize the tree and it would affect the anchoring of the root system.

Now I know the staff has suggested that there could be, you know, they could offset that by you know, if we did do some more pruning on the root system on the the patio side that we could do more watering on the hoa side to get more growth and help with um balancing the stability, but there isn't any sprinkler system right there on that side, plus on the HOA side, plus it is on a sl like hill side that goes right down into the um into the uh common uh driveway area.

So there's no way to really balance that side of it.

So the only option then is to every like two to three years lifting up the you know the pavers, trimming the roots as much as can be done, and then we're gonna have to replace the that section of fence, probably I'd say maybe every five years at the you know, more like it, you know, you know, it because right now it's already bowing a bunch.

Well, and then I included photos in um the letter that yeah, and my wife included photos, how worse it got just in a matter of a few months.

In a matter of a few months, I mean, you can see that it's completely arced and bowed, and um I mean, it's just gonna keep getting worse and worse.

And and it the the thing is is it's butting up against the fence, it's only within 10 feet of of our windows, but within less than 10 feet of the roof line um and the gutter side, so it's probably about eight feet from that, and it's just it's it just it scares us having it that close, the damage that it's uh continually doing, and we have no problem putting in a tree to replace that tree just a little bit farther away from the fence, and with a tree that won't grow as large of uh trunk or as wide of trunk, um and uh and also in the CC and Rs too.

I forgot to mention earlier, the HOA doesn't allow for any type of modifications to the fencing system, so we need to keep the fence the same.

So the only other option would be to keep making cutouts and to actually take away part of our property line and move the fence in, which we can't, which we can't do.

So and the other thing too is like you know, based off this evaluation, there was no um looking from the staff from the city of the actual root system and how and and how that looks underneath the pavers.

So we feel that this was just you know a quick um you know visual scan and looking at you know the elevation and lift in the pavers, but not actually, you know, seeing what's underneath the hood.

So um that's kind of what like where we stand, um, and I'd like to give the rest of the time um to the arborist to give his input um from his evaluations.

Thank you.

Just to let you know, in case you can't see the clock, we have four minutes and 15 seconds left.

All right.

Well, if it's okay, I'll I'll jump in.

Um, can everybody hear me okay?

Yes.

So my name's Evan Fuller.

I'm an arborist with A Plus Tree Service.

We've been working with the HOA for a number of years.

So when this project came up, uh they reached out and contacted us because we're familiar with the permitting process, and uh so it's part of the quote that they requested for potentially removing the tree.

Um, we were also contracted to write the arborist report and and uh facilitate the application for the removal.

So, my main concern with the tree in this case is really just the root pruning.

Um, I wasn't aware of the issue with the the HOA requirements and the fencing and all that.

Arbora culturally, I would normally recommend just making a larger cutout in the fence to accommodate the trunk growth.

Um, but when it comes to the patio, I mean short of pruning the roots um you'd you'd kind of just have to have the uh the owner sacrifice some element of their patio space either by building like a a raised porch there or something instead of pavers or to just let the tree continue to lift the pavers.

I personally am not comfortable cutting roots that close if that's the determination that the city makes um then I'll I'll work with the HOA and the resident to you know kind of advise on the the best way to do that but from a liability standpoint my company would not be comfortable cutting a a root that close to the base of the tree we'd essentially be cutting into the root flare of the tree if we were to cut it all the way back to the fence line.

And my concern there would be just compromising the tree stability.

Redwood trees are very good typically at compartmentalizing decay so I'm not necessarily concerned about you know making an underground wound that would become infected and start to decay the the base of the tree or anything like that.

It would really just be the mechanical uh weakening of the root system on that side could potentially lead to the tree at some point toppling over.

And there's not really any way to understand that for sure without excavating the patio um and really exposing the main root system on the patio side and even in that case we'd still be either shaving down a root or severing a route completely uh to facilitate the patio repairs so that was kind of the my concern arbora culturally with the tree and that's why I would recommend removal in this case I understand the city's uh you know hesitancy to lose such a large tree like that uh but I I feel that the alternative is asking the the property owner to make some kind of sacrifice with their property which which may be the the city's position um but that would be my input from an arborist standpoint.

And I'm happy to take questions as well but yeah I will have an opportunity is there anybody else uh appellant you you got another minute you want to use your time or are you done no no I think we're we're good i i appreciate though the offer okay and you'll have you'll have you'll have two minutes more later on all right uh I'll now bring it back to the uh PRC urban forestry board to see if we have any questions of anybody.

I have a question.

First app we uh requested a review of their HOA C C and Rs or anything like that.

Good question and I'm not a hundred percent certain that they shared that information um but I think they may have shared that with us um and it I'll just say was general language that says you know modification of fence isn't allowed or otherwise I don't I don't know as a we read anything that ultimately change our job to find them I was just wondering if there was some exception language very often there is.

So to your knowledge did they take this matter to their board or their HOA?

I believe they had to take it to the HOA because it's an HOA tree and that the HOA kind of encouraged them I think that was their statement as well as that the HOA encouraged them to submit the application or otherway based on the prior repair.

But it's not technically on their property it's on the common area.

Correct and so is the fence their property line to your knowledge to my knowledge I would say yes I do not know that all right so I'll jump on that the uh HOA or CCR would not trump a city ordinance.

No.

No.

Questions.

My questions would be about the fence as well um the appellant mentioned not being able to move the fence because of the HOA.

But I also thought I heard them say something about not being able to cut more of the fence.

Maybe I misunderstood.

I'm just trying to understand what we've done with the fence.

Go ahead.

So to address that, we're not allowed to make any type of visual modifications that you can see from the outside.

So where the fence is, we made that a little cutout, which you can see in the image that Russell Hansen shared at the very base.

We had some cutouts, which we weren't happy with, but we you know we had to do what we had to do to make it straight uh when we had the new fence put in.

But um, but that you can't see from this from the outside.

Um, but anything that was higher where it's bowing, that we wouldn't be able to cut from our understanding, um, based off of the CC and Rs.

So yeah, um, so I just uh a question.

I'll start with Russell again.

I just if root pruning were to happen in the patio area, um, given sort of what you can see in terms of how much things have been raised.

Um, would we be looking at?

I mean, you again, I think I think you said maybe it might be one root.

I mean, you wouldn't know for sure.

I mean, you know, would you actually have to cut a major route?

I mean, is it likely that this tree has lots of roots?

Um, so one root wouldn't be as significant.

Um, and would you actually have to cut it, or would you have to maybe shave it down a little?

I guess it depends on how close it is to the surface of the if you could sure extrapolate on that a little bit or expand what you can out of my question.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And so, trees are always I'll say difficult because where we would like to have uniformity, we don't always get them.

So I can't really say with any certainty how evenly spaced any of the roots are around the tree, but they do serve as structural support, et cetera, to fight against wind, etc.

And so typically they're gonna try and find a balance point where they are spreading their root system evenly.

Um, having said that, I typically operate on a general rule of about three feet from the trunk, ideally five feet from the trunk.

You're gonna get outside of the majority of bigger structural roots.

Once you get past about five feet, they start to taper down enough into those other feeder, other structural roots and feeder roots that are out much further, I'll say.

And so this one, the tree itself is about two to three feet.

So I feel like there's a chance we're going to hit some of the larger structural roots.

What that feeds to, I can't really say, I would just simply add that because this patio, I think they'd mentioned that this was concrete before and they changed it to the pipe the pavers.

Um, that might even be contrary, not necessarily their fault, um, but by ultimately allowing that additional water and everything else to filter through those pavers, now the roots are going to expand into that area.

They're gonna grow a little bit bigger because they have the water, they have the things that they need, and so it's kind of a double-edged sword that they did those papers.

Um, but it was the right thing ultimately in terms of saving these trees longer term in terms of cutting of the roots or otherwise, again, it is so subjective that I can't really give you good advice as to how big of a route and how much of an impact it's going to have.

Um, but I feel like it's going to have maybe 20% of the root system.

If I were to pick a larger number um and just say that that is one large structural route that comes out and feeds a bunch, maybe a 20% of the root system is kind of being impacted because there should be a fair amount of it on that other side where we have landscape and turf and everything else.

Um, and so I think that's kind of what we're looking at in terms of cutting them.

Just like a tree branch.

Typically, you want to make a clean as round of cut as possible.

So you want to make it perpendicular to the root or otherwise, and you want to cut that root entirely, only because the tree's natural response is to form wound wood to kind of seal that off and prevent additional decay or otherwise from occurring significantly.

And so it's by doing it that way, you reduce the amount of decay or otherwise that can impact the tree long term.

You absolutely can shave a root down.

You do not have to cut that entire root.

The problem becomes the bigger the wound, the slower it closes, the more potential that has to have a long-term impact on trees don't heal, but they seal, they close, it's going to have an impact on how well that closes and how well it's able to defend against disease or other pathogens longer term.

So that's why we typically don't recommend shading, but we absolutely do it on occasion.

I don't want to imply that don't do it because there are some instances we get into a 12 or 18 inch root and we're really trying to save that tree.

We will shave that down because we want to save the tree kind of a thing.

So it can be done, it's just not best practice.

Okay.

Um, and my my other question, I guess, would be for the um appellant.

Um, and that is it it goes a step further on the uh, you know, since this tree is actually outside of property line.

Um, if there were fence work, well, first of all, you did some fence work.

Um, both on that fence work and on any future fence work, is that a um an owner expense or is that an hoa expense?

And if the tree were to be removed, would that be or any work done on the root system of the tree?

Would that be an owner expense or an HOX pence?

Yeah, I can yeah, I can address that.

So the fence is uh the homeowner's expense.

Um, like I said earlier, the patio and the fence are all brand new, as of like two and a half, three years ago.

Um, the pruning of the root system and the removal of the tree would be on the HOA.

Um, and oh, half.

Sorry, so my wife said it would be half.

We were willing to split the cost to help the HOA.

But the other thing, too, that I wanted to address is uh the thickness of the root system.

Um, I do know when they did when they put the pavers in and it was fully excavated, the base of the root, it was probably that encroaches on our property is probably about two to three feet in, and it's a very thick piece of wood that is probably I'd say maybe like 24 inches wide, and it goes in a couple feet, and they had to like shave it down and shave it down, and they got as they did as much as they felt comfortable doing, but there's only a very thin level of sand, probably a half an inch at the most in between that big heavy piece of wood on our property and those pavers, so it's not like it's lifting like you know, a bunch of soil and stuff like that.

I mean, it's a very small margin in between the wood and the pavers.

Thank you.

I'm gonna do one more.

So, again, another hypothetical.

Um root, like a major root.

How much does that grow in in the course of five years or ten years?

I mean, you know, I mean, I don't know.

I understand.

Ultimately, where I go with that is it's going to be very similar to what we see in the branches of the canopy.

And it's just there's a lot of factors that are going to change.

Um, but typically you're going to see about a half an inch to an inch in a really aggressive year where it's growing really strong, you might see about an inch of growth overall um diameter.

So a half inch on either side, real aggressive, a little bit less aggressive, maybe a quarter inch or so.

That's typical, can exceed an inch, it can be less than that.

I just it depends on a lot of factors.

Great.

Thank you.

Commissioner I had a question for um assistant city attorney Wilkis.

So I'm looking at the city's ordinance and the criteria for removal, number two, talking about the necessity of the removal of heritage tree in order to construct improvements or allow reasonable and conforming use of property.

So obviously, there's no goods being proposed for construction.

So I wanted to ask you about this idea of um allowing reasonable and conforming use of the property, and this would be specifically the the appellate's property, the condominium.

So if they were to let's say relocate relocate the fence in order to accommodate the tree, that would presumably be putting some of their property on the outside of the fence.

How do you see that whole reasonable and conforming in relation to this sort of idea?

Is that meeting that?

I mean, because they no longer have use of that part of their generally reasonable and conforming.

There's two concepts here.

A conforming use is just the property conforms to things like zoning laws.

Reasonable use is a little more subjective as far as you know, does the use of the property uh does it fit within the characteristics of the neighborhood?

So I'm not I'm not sure how it really applies here.

Okay.

Um because the patio is pretty small, that would make it smaller.

Is that unreasonable to ask them?

And the point of view that I know that reasonable for me is sort of a legal term, and I want to think about it.

Right.

And I I think we're on we all agree it's a conforming use.

I think it's a reasonable use of the property, which is does it conform with the general characteristics of the neighborhood or the area where they live?

Um, so it seems it seems like that's sort of it seems like it's a it's and it's more of an hoa versus resident issue.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

That gives me some perspective.

Go ahead.

Um, was there any indication of um impact on the structure itself?

I understand the fence and the uh papers, the patio, but anything related to the structure in terms of the house structure?

Yes.

Not that I am aware of, no, um, here's another legal question, Dave.

Um, we're like the Supreme Court, but how does precedence play into the decisions of this commission?

Because we've had many uh cases before us that are very similar to this in terms of a fence and uh pavement.

Well, um, I mean, I don't think you're bound by any particular precedence.

Number one because I I don't, I mean, they're each case is so different, even though there's similar cases, right?

Each case turns on its own individual facts, and so it's it's hard for me to say, well, you have precedence for this, because every case is just so different.

Okay, I presume consistency of judgment would be uh a desirable uh commission.

It's a little better, yeah, concept.

But again, you know, everything turns on the individual facts and circumstances of each individual case.

Any other questions on this side?

Anyone over here?

All right, um, we will now open up public comment.

This is your time.

If you'd like, um should I stand up?

Yes, please.

But did you want to speak on Middle field or Ikew?

Obviously, we were here for an ICLE original, okay.

And there's two neighbors here too that I can speak.

First of all, thank you.

Um I heard some suggestions here that made me think about how we really need to view this.

I think you may be thinking it's a tree and another tree on a flat piece of land, but if it's a slope like this that's this high.

So some of the tree branches go beyond this into the fence.

The rest of it cascades down into a dirt pile before the cement base.

So the two trees are very close together.

My question to you would be they've probably got their root system somewhat intertwined, like the two trees are supporting each other.

Is that a reasonable assumption?

That is reasonable, yes.

Yeah.

So, and from what you said that the cobblestone structure was put in, and that allowed more water get to get to the roots, correct?

I'm not supposed to answer any questions.

You're allowed to speak, but technically I'm not allowed.

So I'm saying that I heard what you said, and that's what I thought you meant.

So it sounds like we could make it worse by standing out there and watering it and uh giving these trees more water than they need, and hence increasing their growth and impingement on the patio.

It's just the thought, but anyway, I don't want to be at odds with my two neighbors because I just adore these people.

They are our friends, but I've lived there for since the 1970s, and we've had trees, trees growing.

It's called Willow Park, it's all about trees.

Um we got an award years ago for some of the best landscaping in the city, back when it was first there as condoms.

Um I'm sort of a tree hugger.

I hate to see any trees taken down unnecessarily.

These trees I see from my patio, and they are majestic.

They're huge, beautiful, green, healthy trees, side by side like twins.

It's not like a tree here, a tree there.

They're like a set.

And then right back is this unit that our my lovely neighbors have, and the young man that moved over here.

Two trees are like right where the divide between the two patios are.

So the trees affect both of those units, although the other gentleman hasn't, to my knowledge, had any verbalized complaint.

I like the suggestions you made about working on the fence.

The board of directors, which I was on for 10 years and five years as president, not in the very current day, but seem like forever.

Um we've had a lot of discussions about trees, and a lot of it weighed heavily on how can I preserve our wonderful tree surrounding area, and saying we're like living in a little big basin.

It's really beautiful in there when you walk around.

And I don't think that you can really even think clearly about what to do with this situation without standing there and looking at the situation first, you know, right with you there.

And um, that's that's sorry, time is time is up, so thanks very much.

Um I have um a relatively short um comment.

I want these two.

If you would be comfortable, okay because that's where the microphones could go.

Cameras, um, thank you for the opportunity, and uh the I want this tree to say.

So that's the basis for my coming tonight.

Um from all the things that have been said, I'm thinking we could delay this.

We could delay the decision um for I don't know, three, four years, five years.

That's one suggestion.

The other suggestion is that I don't know whether this is technically possible, but with um one of your um members here sort of indicated it.

The idea of changing the border of the um of the condo of each condominium is its self-contained, and uh outside that perimeter is the common area.

So this tree is sort of encroaching on a private area, presumably there is the possibility that uh the patio becomes smaller, and the whole the condo unit has a smaller footprint, and the um common area expands.

I don't know how that's legal or possible, and everybody would have to be in agreement, but that's all I can think of because I love this tree.

Um there's been a lot of uh wanton removal of trees on our property, and uh this would be pretty bad.

I think to take down so that being a spoiling, a spoiling.

Sorry, I'm not very energetic at this time of night.

Thank you very much thank you very much for coming and sharing.

Is there anybody else in the room who would like to speak?

At your convenience afterwards, if you could fill out a blue card.

My name's Sherry Duperl, and I live there also.

Um I'm trying to be as objective as possible because I understand that a homeowner does not want to lose any space because our condominiums are small, especially these units are one bedroom, and so people do utilize the outdoor space.

And I love redwood trees also, although I think this one does look a little sparse.

I think a lot of the redwood trees on our property look like they are um needing more water, and this does not get that much water because there's pavement, and then there's the patio next door.

So I understand why the tree is going to the area where there's more water, which would be the patio.

I do have some suggestions though.

I would be very leery about removing the entire route because the tree is very tall, and right across the driveway, there's a whole group of other apartments, and it would be and with that removal of that route.

I think it would damage the integrity of the tree.

However, if the tree maintains that root, I think that possibly rather than using pavers, you could use decomposed granite or gravel, something like that.

Yes, it would be permeable to water, so then that root would continue to grow, but I would be very cautious of removing that major root right there with the other buildings of apartments or of a condominiums right across the street.

But it's a lovely tree.

I love redwoods, and um, so I um it's a difficult decision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else in the room who would like to speak?

Um, do we have anybody online who would like to speak?

No.

All right, I will close the uh public comment portion and uh bring it back to uh staff for two more minutes if you'd like.

Sure.

I again I don't think they really have anything significant to add.

I just our feeling is that we're more than happy to continue the engagement with the property over older, have conversations between them and the A, their arborist, and kind of come to a resolution with this in the future when they start to make these repairs, when they start to make some adjustments or otherwise ultimately if the damage is significant and then does come out.

We do have that ability to revisit this permit and make a different decision at a later time, right?

They can reapply at a later time, and we can ultimately make a separate decision at that point that kind of worst happened going into the end.

I just think there's more time that could be done with this tree to have more conversations if nothing else.

Thank you.

Um Gina and Dave, you have two more minutes, and you can take it or allocate it, whatever you like.

Should I be able to think you should be able to unmute if we go?

Start the talk.

Yeah, so something I you know, I I guess just to address, you know, the last comment that was said, um, we did actually submit um a request to remove the tree based off of the lifting of the the previous um aggregate uh patio, and that was about two and a half, three years ago, some probably three years ago.

Um, and then we did this whole project, you know, with the with the pavers and the fence, um, and now we're revisiting it again.

And it and this is because it's getting to a more, you know, substantial, you know, point in damage, but really it's something that you know should probably be addressed every year, year and a half, you know, something like that, based off of how quickly the roots growing, and also the fact that there's a small gap between the big piece of the root on our side, um and you know, next to the pavers.

The the thing that I wanted to say too is that um in the bylaws, it doesn't allow us to um um for the homeowner's association, it doesn't allow us to adjust the size of the patio.

Um, so there's we're not gonna be able to shrink the patio or expand it and encroach onto the HOA's property.

Um as everyone knows here.

I mean, real estate's very expensive in the Bay Area, so obviously, like why would we want to just move our patio in another foot just for this tree?

Um, and then shrink our patio, and we're not gonna do like a gravel patio or anything like that.

Um, and you know, something I just want to leave everyone with, it's we're not against having a tree.

We want to replace it with another tree.

And one of the things that makes the the whole development and you know, and why my my wife fell in love with the area is such is the variety of the trees that are in the complex.

We have Japanese maple, we have um you know, birch trees, we have a bunch of different trees, so thank you.

Okay, um, may I ask you one question?

Probably not.

Actually, no, you can't.

I'm sorry.

We the public comments closed.

I don't mean to be rude, but we have to legally stick to our six.

Sorry.

Um, so we'll now come back to the uh to the urban forestry board and uh discussion if anybody wants to uh start.

Sure, I can start.

Um, so you your complex is just beautiful.

I went for a brief walk because I was there like a year or two ago.

So I actually found my way not to without too much difficulty, I could enjoy the bird song and think how long how lucky you are to live there.

It's a beautiful place.

Um so there's and it's beautiful because of the trees.

And the thought of cutting through the roots of the heritage redwood, so as to preserve papers in a patio.

It's those are two completely different things.

A few papers are one thing, and the root of a majestic tree is a completely different universe.

Um the compound complex is is designed the way it is, and the trees are there, and I think one needs to make the judgment of what what uh what is the relative value of what of the various uh things we're looking at.

It's always very painful when a when a rent when a powered this tree is destroying the foundations of the house, and we have to say, oh, it's a wonderful tree, but the house is a house.

A patio is something completely different, and sometimes you have a roof and you can't put papers onto it, so you have a patio with the root in it with a different kind of surface.

Uh so the recommendation to shave a road or to cut a road so we can preserve papers is uh is something that I would object to that I really do not like, uh the fence walking around the complex, I thought, oh my, this is so beautiful.

Look at the trees, look at the plants in front of the houses.

Taking out a tree would make a serious difference to the look of the area, but making a cut in the fence I don't know, I personally would not notice.

Maybe other people would, but it seems to me like a conversation to be had with the HOA and uh the directors of the HOA.

Besides that, reading through staff's analysis, the one thing I disagreed with was cutting the roots at all.

But otherwise, it seems to me that this does not rise to the requirements for taking out the heritage tree.

So for me, this was not a decision to me.

I agree with staff's recommendation to deny the deal.

Sure, I'd be happy to go next.

Um I I find myself uh in full agreement with Commissioner Bryant.

Um, you know, I what a lovely neighborhood.

You all are so lucky to be there.

Um, just almost an oasis.

I would have never thought that it was so beautiful in there.

Um I'm having trouble finding the justification in the city's ordinance to remove this tree.

Um I feel like the the tree which is in the common area and the responsibility of the homeowners association to manage, um, some compromise needs to be made at that level um in terms of you know shaving a notch out of the fence, um, changing the shape of the patio, those are all completely possibilities um that are would not really have any visibility from the public area of the public portion of the common area that you hidden behind the giant redwood root flare.

Um and I feel like the true exploration of the details of what needs to be done just is not happened at that level.

And if it were to happen and still not be able to arrive at uh solution, then I think that is time to come back to staff with a another application, and and there could be a case made that there's damage that would not be able to.

But I think at this point that there are still many options that would not violate the CCNRs, and they need that needs to be played out before we remove this tree.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry.

I agree.

I think the real conversation needs to happen with the owners association.

Um, there are a tree.

I mean, if anything, you should sue the homeowners association, have them build you a new fence.

Uh, that's a non-legal opinion.

But um I sympathize with the applicant.

I too have a you know a fence that's um getting leaned over by a redwood tree.

It's not on my property, um, and it is um it's challenging, it's frustrating, it's difficult.

Um, but the ordinance has been around for half a century.

Uh it's pretty clear in its intent and and purpose, and um, you know, to be consistent with the many other judgments that we have made and situations for tree is impacting a fence or uh pavement area.

Um I agree with the commissioners that have spoken so far.

I think uh we weigh in favor of the tree of this.

Um not that that's uh necessarily easy thing to mitigate.

I hope your association uh board will assist you in coming up with a solution.

So um long story short, I will uh uh agree with the staff position.

Um I definitely have much empathy for the homeowner here.

Um it is a small space, um, and I hate to see it impinged upon.

I also understand that the owner is really can't really do much with the fence, even if they they wish to.

So um I go back to I was actually thinking that some of the HOA representatives would have been here to talk about it too, because it does feel like some of this decision and who should be appealing or uh applying to remove this tree would be the HOA.

So I'm all a little confused about who was in the room here.

Um, I do want to point out though, uh, of all the tree feels I've been in, I've never I don't remember ever had so many neighbors come and talk about a tree and the love of the tree.

And it is a reminder why we have a heritage tree ordinance in the first place.

It is the love of trees.

It is the fact that trees become common goods, uh, not just in an OHOA in an HOA, but among any of the people who can actually see that tree and experience it.

Um I do also want to applaud the neighbors for being so kind and saying how much they care about the relationship with the appellant.

Um I got to meet one of the neighbors walking around trying to find the tree, and there is a certain kindness in your in your community that is that is unique and wonderful.

So I would applaud you for all being so kind about that and sharing your thoughts.

Um, I do have a lot of concerns about what's going to happen to this tree if the root if it is one major route and if it's pruned or cut.

I don't know what happens to the stability of the tree in the long run.

Um, and I suspect that that would be something that the HOA might want to come back and discuss at some point, especially if it turns out that there's a more extensive root system, or it is infeasible to actually pruner that.

So I will probably be supporting the stock recommendation, but with all of those caveats.

Thank you.

Um, so yeah, turning to myself, you know, I I again it's a it's a mature redwood tree.

Um, it looks like it's in pretty good health, it's lush, it's fairly well balanced, um, it has a nice canopy.

Um actually I think it's nicer than the one that's next to it, um, although they're both nice, but they seem to be playing well together in terms of sharing sharing space.

Um so redwoods uh fall in a special not new protective category of only needing 12 inches of circumference to be deemed heritage.

So we have I think there's three um species of trees that fall into that category, and this one has a 95-inch circumference, and uh the city code specifies that a single removal criterion is just a minimum, and that additional criteria shall be considered with the emphasis on preserving heritage trees.

Um so that's sort of a little bit our mission, our mission statement.

Um, after reading the materials and spending time at the site, you know, the only criterion for removal that I find partially satisfies number one, again, proximity to structures.

I did climb around a bit um to examine that you know, it was a little treacherous on the hillside.

Um, but I I wanted to sort of see how close the tree was at different parts of the tree to the fence.

Um, you know, the upper part of the fence, it looked like it was about 10 inches away.

Um I was also able to take a brief peek at the patio.

Hopefully, that's okay to sort of glance over the fence a little bit.

Um with regard to that, um, because I did it as a frustration.

So as we can't get into certain certain parts of yards, and we have to rely on photos.

Um, but with regard to the patio, the paper uplifting I saw was was fairly, you know, I'm gonna call it minimal.

We see a lot of these.

At this point, and I'm I fully acknowledge that the owner has already made some uh repairs and put in a new fence, but uh the damage to the fence is mostly a future possibility um rather than a significant uh current condition.

So, you know, to me, if and when the tree begins to push up against it or impact the structure of the fence, modification of the fence seems possible, and I would hope that for a minimal modification that might buy 10 to 15 years or more of a mature redwood, that the HOA would be amenable to those modifications and would work um to try to preserve the the tree.

I you know, I where I live in Mount View, there isn't an hoa, but in another location where I'm at, people are trying to get me on the HOA working and uh which I resist it to this point, but but HOI rules I think they could be, you know, things could be modified a little bit.

So I would hope that um the HOA would be open to uh working with people to uh to try to try to preserve this tree as best they can.

So anyway, um because the removal criteria for me aren't sufficiently satisfied, and because mitigation options exist, I'm also going to lean towards denying the appeal and upholding the staff decision to deny removal of this um Redwood tree.

Chair Mitchell, I think I detect uh consensus, so may I make a motion?

Yes, I think a motion that we adopt a resolution of the urban forestry board of the city of Mountain View to deny the appeal and uphold the staff decision to deny the removal of the heritage tree at 500 left middlefield.

I don't know further reading and wait.

Second.

Uh we have a motion by Commissioner Davis, second by Commissioner Bryant.

Is there any discussion before we vote?

Commissioner Bryant, yes, Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sylvester, yes.

Thanks, Chair Summer, yes, and Chairman.

Yes, okay.

Well, thank you for everyone who um participated and spoke on that tree.

And we will now have an update.

Okay, so I talked with property owner.

Um I managed to get her through with the one for Eichler, or we can.

I think it would be my recommendation under the circumstances.

Uh you may want to consider um continuing this to give the appellant due process to present the claim.

Um you could also, since it was properly noticed, you could also proceed.

But my recommendation would be to continue it to give our view office.

I think I would be more comfortable with um a recommendation to continue it.

Okay, you're okay with that.

Continue it so I can go home and watching basketball, otherwise, I'm like post-menable.

I'm in favored to talking to someone.

Yeah, I'm okay with that.

Again, I I hope that you know there's construction going on on that site, and I I hope that um that we don't um so mandate it, but I would prefer that there not be further modifications to the tree in the interim period um between today and when we uh that's a serious issue.

Yeah, and part of what's come up, part of what I would do would you object to.

What I'll realize is why I think I think the city ordinance has already been violated.

Um reticent to um, so we shouldn't discuss it now, because it's not it's not an issue right now.

I'm just telling you my reservations about pushing up the meeting.

Oh, I'm so I'm sorry, I thought we were just getting into the merits of of it, but I think you were expressing something different.

But I was just gonna say my recommendation would be to make a motion and continue it to a day to be determined, um, and that's how you see that.

That's what you want to do, which would sound like that's what it does.

Okay, can I ask a question?

Um, so that is there.

What is going to protect the tree while construction work is happening?

Yes, is there a way for the city to make clear that the process is, the process is in process and nothing further should happen to the tree?

Um, so private property tree just so we're clicking.

Yeah, well, potentially a notice from the forestry board, which you know Russell can address with with Diana that you know here's a here's the uh code section that says you got to damage trees.

Um that might be that might be something that they would want to do.

And it's public, will the public be renotified?

Will new signs be put up?

Yes, so is there an active roofing permit?

Because if there is, you know, the permit would have requirements.

Right.

Ultimately I'm not aware if there was a permit poll.

All right, so do we want to make a motion to continue this to a future meeting?

Good question.

The appellate said she was okay with pushing it till September, October.

Yes, correct.

Which I understood.

The exact response button read it to you was would you like me to ask the commission if they would like to reschedule it?

May mean we wait till September.

The response was sure.

That would be amazing.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, I move that we continue item 5.1 to uh date uh uh to be determined by staffing working with the appellate.

Okay, the motion.

Second second, motion commissioner summer second by commissioner Sylvester.

Um let me let me just continue the question that you were mentioning that Russell put um work with the appellant to clarify the expectations of the protection of the tree until it comes before the PRC again.

What what um what would cause that to happen?

We need to say something about it, we'd become something that staff would just do.

Well, I'm gonna leave that up for them.

I'm I'm putting that forth as you know, potential option that may or may not, regardless of the motion.

I'm happy to do that.

That would be the intention anyways, is to follow up the letter development was continued, and ultimately I can share that additional information.

Well, I would prefer to have the fellow here what we're discussing the tree.

Okay.

Do you want to conduct a vote then?

Commissioner Bryant, just your devis, Commissioner Swester, yes, Vice Chair Summer, yes, and Chairman Mitch there.

Yes.

If we might be able to take a quick break, it sounds like might be video issue.

Okay, sound is okay, but thank our attorneys for being here tonight.

And um we'll reschedule this item 5.1 for future game.

Let's please not add an extra meeting.

Okay, and we'll take a uh it is 7 20.

17 minutes.

So we want to 7 35.

Or 7 35, 7 minutes.

Okay.

The sound is still on, so we'll let you go out and look at these sites.

It sounds like we didn't have to that I want to say that's why I wanted to ask the question because I want to say, thank you.

That really shows such good interest.

Like I said, you're one of your neighbors stopped and wanting to talk.

I think it's a good one.

So, thank you.

I can tell it's that's why I call it.

They're not even looking at the apps.

We just had a baby.

I don't know if they think that's a good actually.

That's my question.

Yeah, we've got a both well.

And on my patio, all I see is the three.

So you're uh directly across the house.

Okay, so thank you.

Do I have some uh south?

Yeah, so the art there, and then we're right.

Okay.

I heard her saying that.

Always be right.

I was not here as a hospice nurse.

You don't hear it, so I think possible.

Not the exception.

I don't have bad news, but we are keeping the exception.

I'm not actually walk through that, but I don't want to tell them what's coming.

I know you know stuff, but don't talk to me about it.

There's uh, just call and say hello a lot.

Thank you for the very thin, and she's just so we like SAC, but we know it's a part of the end we think okay, but yeah, so uh they're like now among the friends, they're like, Oh, I'm so sorry.

So this is something right now, yeah.

So we can just say that.

But why would I want to join the problem?

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I mean, streets are just one of the weird.

Oh, actually, I guess I didn't read out.

Yeah, it's all right now, finding off the remote.

Um, I don't know.

I think we've done a lot of robas.

All right, I'm not gonna be so I can what do we have?

So, it's yeah, yeah, yeah.

But uh, I am looking forward to the job.

I am not there Monday that's something I saw the construction trends out of all the materials that are stacked around the yeah, I think that's the real issue.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, I just talked about it.

I know, I know.

I actually um I probably displayed it.

Yeah, and I just replaced it.

Uh yeah, I would actually want to do it.

Yeah, yeah, um, usually there was a plan.

Yeah, so I know.

I think that's my thing, yeah.

That's my change that's not contracting those.

So I have my role in the district.

I have a language.

Okay, I suppose I don't think it's just working.

Yeah, I think that's the internet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, it's a standard.

And if you're on it, I don't know if it's like your one.

I see.

Yeah, for sure.

It's the same as uh, okay.

Um, I mean this is also my first.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

I mean, all the time, we're not saying it's probably a seasonal.

I did it I didn't put time on the call.

Yeah, then we get the full time.

And I love I really like a couple of things, they're all right.

Yeah, it's uh, it's great.

Yeah, I have a tag.

I guess it was clearly, yeah.

Okay, yeah, so all the materials are uh, so they're on myself.

Yeah, I'll just have a traction.

So that was a tool, because they're in the uh, like they walked out here at the comment, right?

So that is that.

No, it's like here, unless it's a change, but I know.

Uh, I don't want to be a good one.

I thought you uh, yeah, I think for a right, I don't know.

I like that.

No, I think so.

Yeah, I think it's a good one.

I think we'll have to put it.

It's possible.

I can't thought it's a little bit of a construction of the working people.

I'm going to have a lot of other structure.

And now I'm just kind of like, you know what, I'm gonna hang out with people, I don't want to like deal with like a new life or charts, or I think it's like a little thing, and we have to do it.

And like yeah, my girl's just like a band that's doing it.

She got it, right?

So I thought, yeah, so I know.

But uh, why does it look up?

I have a little bit of something.

Yeah, I don't like that.

Oh, okay.

So I think everyone's got a lot of these things.

It's no use.

It's not like that.

No, I just closed your dive.

Okay.

So I'm gonna trust you.

I just have to do it.

I'm gonna say you'll use it.

But I have to buy it because I'm gonna have to think about it.

Yeah, and you know, I think it't find that.

Yeah, no, GPS.

Yeah, no one can find you.

But yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

Um, he's gonna pass it over to me.

I will talk about it over here.

Uh, it's really that we'll go.

I'm sure we'll be everywhere at the same time.

And then just saying, just like all the other ones, stand up when it turns out.

Yeah, that works.

Yeah, we can put it up.

It feels like a needs.

Yeah, I mean we can all stand in a turn to the book.

So this is why we're there.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I system, but really good.

The two on the first one, just like it would be not for your main thing.

If you want to dump the crap, like around the corner.

And then the way or one of them, uh, you just find a lot of people.

Okay, and then she's saying that's a global time.

Oh, yeah, yeah, and it's actually.

But different people, yeah.

You can always um make a little bit of a letter here.

Yeah, someone smaller.

That's a good one.

So that's uh, yeah, I think she couldn't have heard I've heard between the lines that I like to say about that.

Okay, so we're in parentheses, but yeah, I think we can just operate.

Yeah, just pass it up.

Yeah, no, yeah, it's totally fine.

I just gonna throw it in.

I wanted to have an SP and I'm not another thing out of the sort.

So I think that's what we should have learned people handling, which is okay.

Oh, yeah.

Um, it's gonna get it's eventually gonna get so I think so that I'm gonna find the one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But believe it or not, you need to show it.

Oh, I know.

Um, uh, so it's just my enrichment.

Yeah, just not you're saying, yeah, we can just keep it.

Yeah, it works.

Yeah, those are that's like, I think, I'm saying, I just try to look at this.

I thought it was like a little bit of a and then I saw that.

Oh, I think it wasn't a couple questions.

Okay, so I think I don't know.

Yeah, I don't think it's a little bit of a lot of regularly.

It'll be wrong.

But it was a lot too covered.

I think I'm pretty good.

I need to say people can find that.

I don't think it's like, but I don't think it's a good one.

I like to drive, your job or yeah, so um, I have a lot of course.

Yeah, I think that's what I think.

I quite forgot.

But I mean, right, I should talk about all this.

So we've got a lot of them.

Social media, yeah.

And our garden, I can use super stuff.

So we'll have to matter.

Because their email list is just reaching out to people who want to do one more.

I do have these things.

We have more your time.

Doing our group of people.

And stuff and space.

So it was really good.

So people don't want to range or county parks range.

They're all these officers, all I think we're just needing to remember.

Right, so all right.

We're gonna reconvene uh scrap 740.

And we are now move on to item 5.3, which is our annual update from the canopy organization.

And we will let our uh forestry manager, Russell Hanson, uh introduce today's speaker.

Sure.

Thank you, Mr.

I as you know I tend to keep things a little bit short, but I'm gonna keep this one even shorter and just say that you know Canopy is a very valued partner um for the city of Mountain View.

We've done a lot of hard work with them over the last couple of years to really expand and kind of refine what we're doing with them.

And so tonight is just their opportunity to kind of come and share with you all of the accomplishments that we've had over this last year or so.

So with that, I will turn it over to Aubrey to share kind of their starting point for us.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for having us um at your meeting this evening to have the opportunity to present to you all the work that we've done or really proud of in partnership with the city of Mountain View.

Um, I'm Aubrey Kadir, and I'm the community forestry manager at Canopy.

And we have Ebony Wang, our lead community forester, Uday Luma, and Michael DeBrock, they all um work with the City of Mountain View in either planting or carrying for trees.

So this was the incredible teeth doing the work this last planting season.

I believe we have some slides on this week, actually.

Oh yes, we do.

If I'm correct, the slides will not be.

Um the slides should work, it's just the video feed, so I think that when I share these, it should be okay.

So, I can't speak this at all.

So, it's like that's there we are.

Great, if we can advance to the next connection, yeah.

So thanks for taking us off, Russell.

We've um had an incredible planting season, and we've seen our community forestry model that we value at Canopy really flourish this past season, and that really happens with this public, private, and nonprofit partnership, really um growing our community forest together through all of our different resources, things that we bring to the table, and that's where that's what really moves the needle.

So uh on the public sector, of course, the city of Mountain Views, urban forestry and parks division providing the planting locations to us, helping us procure the trees, deliver them, and um having us having them with us on the day of the event was awesome as well, and then uh private, we have our Mountain View residents that bring the passion.

They um they accept trees on their property, they come help us plant trees, care for them.

They're um open to learning more about how they can continue supporting the urban forests, and then the nonprofit partner us canopy, where we bring the community together to grow the urban forests together.

Um, yeah, so here on uh this slide you can see a visual map of all the trees that we've planted in the lat or within the last planting season.

Uh the metric is just on public parks alone, but this map does include our residential paintings as well.

Next slide, please.

So we started this year with a goal of 49 trees, but through this visionary plan in partnership with the City of Mountain View's Urban Forestry and Parks Division, and the belief that the community forestry model of planting trees is the standard all cities should adopt.

We were able to increase that limit to 249 with a focus on our public parks.

And like Aubrey mentioned, this incredible number can only be made possible because of the community support and the city of Mountain View support as well.

Next slide, please.

Oh, yeah, you're right.

Um just this past planting season alone, we were able to plant over two over 200 trees, which is almost double last year's numbers.

Um, some of the metrics that you see on this slide here.

Um, the one I want to point out is in that planting season, we were able to plant or within these last three months.

We were able to bring out 320 unique volunteers, many of whom came back to multiple events.

Um, and then again, the oh the next slide, please.

Uh, one of the one of the pride and joys that I had um the opportunity to to put together was um a new avenue of community engagement, specifically our youth urban forest stewards.

Uh this program, as you can see, uh was designed to engage youth to come out uh on their time, create a youth only space for them to build their own communities, get to know each other, and we're talking students from all across the Bay Area to come to Mountain View.

Yeah, okay.

Yes, uh, I'm the tree care coordinator.

So if you guys see problematic trees, let them also know, let me know.

Um, but in general, I've been really blurred grateful with how much the city has been investing in their own people.

Um, we had two trainings with the city park staff.

We had 20 of them come out at each, and even we're able to include three of the staff from the mountain view westing district um in some of these trainings and to the gradual process.

We've seen an increased care for a lot of our trees in our public spaces, especially including a lot of the young trees, right?

And by canopy that are gonna provide the shade and benefits for future generations.

These trainings then transitioned into public workshops, and we had 12 volunteers come help us and our experience volunteers with the majority of them being Mountain View residents.

Um, we were able to get through.

I believe a total of around 27 trees cared for just in these workshops.

Um, again, it's been a joy and we view that tree cares tree trust.

We try to come back and show that we're committed.

Uh next slide.

Yeah, so this is your alone.

We walk in attractive walks in box across the modern view.

And three walks and the which are made for the committee members to engage with uh uh modern view urban forest canopy.

Um many of our volunteers first started with canopy walks.

Um apart from the uh contract with canopies, both in field and also in classrooms, beyond the scope of this contract, the canopy education theme, and they wrote 50 bilingual uh lessons to Mr.

and Castro Elementary Schools teaching on young generations, how importance of urban forests.

Excellent, please.

And also canopy participated in two special events with with one of one in our history festival and our producer.

And canopy also supports community education to relevant and not supporting it urban forestry topics through the development of education flyers on pests, tree root conflicts, clearance and property owner tree maybe that's responsibilities.

Next slide.

And also please enjoy some of the clicks we had from the uh previous events.

One is the tree walk and also TK work.

Next slide.

Um it's on the end where our young urban forest stewards participated in youth tree planting.

Uh this was I just want to I was late on this one, one of the largest events of the year, 23 request to park.

I would like to have a personal shout out to Russell and Matt and the city crew who came out helped us deliver the trees, stage the trees, and even a shout out to Abby Trudeau, my predecessor in Canopy came out as our herborists for the tree walk that day.

Um yesterday, and the trees are looking really good, which is going to be nice for the summer.

Next slide, please.

Yes.

Uh on the left, you'll see our Valentine's Day planting.

What you came by Valentine, which was probably our most logistically complicated one.

16 trees, there were 14 houses in one day.

Um it was a lot of fun.

Um, but on the right, you can see our yes helping us in one about the parts.

Yes.

Great.

So um as you can see, we have a lot that we're really excited that we're able to accomplish this last season, and it really still just feels like the beginning of an incredible partnership that we keep growing with each season.

So looking ahead to our next um fiscal year or next planting season, we're just so excited to plant more trees in Mountain View, more education, more community engagement, and just keep deepening this great partnership.

Okay, thank you.

And if you have any questions, I'll take them.

All right, um, we'll just do questions and then we'll do public comments and then it will come back to us if there's anything else.

Any questions?

Okay, question.

As you heard earlier, there may be an audience for your messaging uh with the homeowners association.

I wanted to ask, are they sort of on your list of who you might interact with and provide some of your flyers and expertise too?

Yeah, it's a great question.

We've um certainly had similar situations where um, you know, working with the HOA um also helps us get more trees in the ground too.

Um but also can it be our role um in the community and partnership with the city is I think to really provide that education and um be a sort of liaison so that we can all enjoy the urban forest but in a way that um also works for the people living in it.

Um we currently don't have specific um HOA guidelines, um, but I'd be happy to next season um talk about you know if that's a priority for the city to provide resources to help navigate um those situations where you know the permissions are who owns what, or or you know, what should we do in the situation?

Can be a thing there.

Thank you.

Um last year or where you're planting now.

Um, what is the mix of trees?

Like, what are your top three to five tree species you're planting, and why did you choose those?

Do you need to remember?

Um, uh the um mix of trees were like um uh uh most of them are oaks, the first one, and then we went for some grape metals, and also uh Chinese fishesh.

So those are I would say these are the top three, and the reason we selected was like um most uh the all trees were like giving like more amount of canopy since our goal is to increase urban canopy within the urban areas, so and so uh they're like mix of native and also adaptable species, which uh we don't have any non-invasive and also like uh non-native, which are like invasive species.

Any questions?

This is actually maybe a question more staff.

Um, um what is the when canopy plants trees?

Does the list go through staff first?

Do you like at the start?

Is it me the little list of these how the trees canopy will plant or how does it work?

Sure.

So ultimately this year, yes, we were the ones that were responsible for identifying locations, identifying species, and kind of providing that information to canopy.

In the future, we kind of were talking before the meeting or otherwise, there's a lot of things we're going through, get off topic a little bit.

It's looking like we're finally going to have our funding for canopy converted to a more permanent staff.

We've been operating on one time funding for the last couple of years.

So it looks like we're finally getting that permanent.

Knock on wood that happens in the budget that's upcoming.

If that is the case, we're going to be taking another entirely kind of different approach, not just to the tree planting, but through our whole agreement in terms of some of the tree walks, in terms of some of the other outreach they're doing.

We want to just kind of go back and have another conversation.

So we're expecting that next week we'll be sitting down with them and kind of revising our scope and kind of figuring out where we want to go as we forward.

Um, but yeah, the hope would be again, because we're somewhat limited with resources or otherwise, to perhaps be able to rely on canopy if we give them locations or otherwise, I'll say general locations, parks or otherwise, that maybe they are the ones that are going out there identifying a specific location species or otherwise.

And yes, we would still have that back to us for approval.

If I may add a little, we uh for a lot of street trees, we're pretty much always going with Matthew Fast Animal's or basically our close confidant.

He always does a standup approval on the trees we choose, and we're still picking from a list that the city has provided ones that you guys are down to have in the parks and on your street tree uh locations.

Yeah, street trees is a more challenging conversation with property owners to make sure that they're happy with what's going to be planted in front of their home.

We like to provide options so they take ownership of their tree.

Right.

To that point, or how familiar are you with the city of Mountain Views, biodiversity, which helps inform particularly public uh plantings, but it's certainly uh a document that we'd like to see well educated on.

Yeah, we are familiar and we were involved in the community surveying portion of it.

So um about a year or two ago, I think we were um tabling uh mountain view events, collecting input um through the surveys, which were then used to inform um the outcomes and the recommendation of the plan.

And um, I see that being a goal is for canopy to help uh execute and enhance the community education um goals and having the community members be aware of this incredible document that was just made, and then also supporting the urban forestry goals within it.

Okay, right, to help convey those outside you work with Palo Alto also, right?

Yes, any other municipalities?

East East Palo Alto.

Um and we recently are contracted with the city of Menlo Park as well for Valhe Venting Perhaps specifically.

Yeah, good regional canopy.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Thanks a lot for your work.

Of course, the uh individual beneficiary.

Great stuff, yeah, like canopy tree or two.

Commissioner Brown is going to continue with questions.

Yes, so it it's um the role of canopy in mountain views is still, I mean, it's it's clearly evolving.

It started very small, it's evolving, maybe it'll become a permanent part, and we'll be so easy to really structure it to the specific needs that that Mount View has.

At this point, Canopy would be more responsible for working with volunteers with doing the tree walks with the educational part.

So the two of the trees, well, wonderful, and every one of them is welcome.

That's not the quota that Mountain View sets itself for planting trees per year.

So the planting is also being done by the city by other contractors, whereas canopy is like the educational volunteer outreach that that's the definition of the role.

Am I correct in that?

Historically, yes, but that is part of what we've been transitioning them to be more active in the tree planting because ultimately when we plant by contractor or otherwise, we just don't see the same level of results.

We see more tree fatalities, um, decline challenges that by working with canopy who do the majority of our tree planting, they get that education to the property owners as a part of the planting process.

They follow up with that owner to make sure that they're maintaining it as watering if they have any other challenges.

And so, yes, the education part of that is the most critical piece for the planting as well.

But yeah, that was part of the conversation we had with them earlier.

Is that looking at what we have going forward?

Canopy, excuse me, per the bio plan.

Um ultimately we have a goal of planting 300 new unique trees every year.

That is kind of what they've accomplished this year.

There were a few of those that were replans, but going forward, we really need to be able to separate that.

Our mitigation money is strictly to plant replacement trees.

To plant new trees, the 300 trees we're talking about, it's going to be a challenge for them to ramp up and kind of achieve some of that with the volunteers or otherwise.

And so there may still be some instances, roadway medians or otherwise where it's challenging for volunteers, etc.

Those are still likely to be done by us, but in those cases, we ultimately have more control over the irrigation.

We have more control over monitoring them with our contractors that are doing landscape maintenance, etc.

And so it's gonna be about, um, but ultimately, any of the plantings that they're able to achieve, I want to try and use that as much as I possibly can because of those extra outreach because of that extra education education.

I just think it's invaluable.

So this is both a little canopy, but I'm turned out this year.

Um moving forward, I hope that the PRC will get a clear understanding and participation with the city in how this is all going to be structured.

So we all have a clear idea of how this is working, how achieving our goals for biodiversity.

And thank you.

And I'm gonna chime in just a little bit so I can fill some of the gaps as well.

Um, each year we do a scope of services with canopy, and each year it's evolved a little bit based on the need to make based on the need for the community, based on our needs, based on what we're seeing.

So we're gonna be taking a look at the biodiversity plan and once again taking a look at where those gaps are and where we can, you know, partner with Canopy to help fill those gaps.

We had education for a while, now we're seeing a need for planting.

It will continue to evolve.

Um, but so that's I'm just tagging on to that, but the bio plan will be really important in taking a look and partnering with canopy and and having them take a look at it and say, hey, we can help with this, and we need help with it.

Other questions?

Yeah, I think I think you have on your website uh uh Arborist referral mic.

Yes.

Is that something that you consult with them on?

No.

Should you we could stand up?

Ultimately, it just depends.

It's it's challenging for us as a city agency to provide recommendations or otherwise on private property and the liability that that presents.

Doesn't mean I can't be a sounding board if they have questions that I can have conversations with them, etc.

But it's a challenge, and they do have arborists on staff or otherwise that should be able to answer most of the questions.

Yeah.

Yeah, traditionally it's um been a helpful tool to point residents to because, like Russell was alluding to, cities are uh a bit limited in providing a recommendation for an arborist service.

So if um and we get a lot of people like a street problem, um, do you have recommendations for an arborist?

That's when they can come to Canopy as a nonprofit.

We then have the list that has extensive filters that we keep updated with local certified arborists, okay.

And you somehow qualify the armor or just go off of AI butcher association, you know, ISA, ISAs.

Oh, I was like not a ISA, yes, yeah.

Yeah.

So they're uh ISA certified arborists and then they're researched like what they're specialized in.

Um, and then the user can filter, and then it just shows a more concise list of local arborists that might be better for their situation.

Other questions?

I just wanted to ask questions sort of about your funding model.

Um, you know, sounds like I was already asked about the other cities, so it sounds like you'll have contracts with two or three other cities.

Um, but in terms of revenue, what are you gonna look at your annual report?

What are your other sources?

Do you have like a couple major benefactors?

Do you just rely on hundreds of small donations?

Um what are what are your sort of sources?

Yeah, um, kind of lucky that we have a pretty healthy diverse portfolio.

So there's the city contracts, but we have um substantial state contracts or state grants from Calfire and as well as um private uh foundations, individual donors.

So it really is um expansive and diverse.

So our work that you're seeing here, we even are able to go a bit above beyond like the um educational lessons that Uday mentioned.

That's from a private um a private uh foundation.

So our work uh never funded entirely in a vacuum.

We have um we're always seeking and acquiring additional funding to keep the organization um healthy.

Well, I mean it's good to have a yeah, that we're trying to see how I think it up.

Yeah, um is there any um public comment?

anybody in the room want to talk?

Anybody online?

I don't see anybody online.

So I'll close off public comment and see if we have any final points.

Okay, thank you.

Well, thank you very much for all you do.

I I've been on one of your walks and um I've also been with you on a joint leadership out of you with one other uh yeah, great question.

Every I still go back to the tree.

Trying to see how it's see how it's doing us.

That's all that's what I'm doing.

That's what we hope for.

Great.

Well, we're grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for for being here.

Okay.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, so if I can really quick, I also we're kind of having a conversation on the side here.

Not necessarily rated related to canopy, but we kind of passed along some information about invasive shot hole board, you all.

And I just wanted to kind of throw out some additional information.

Um, ultimately, we believe we have found one tree um out towards Montaloma.

San Ramon specifically is a street um that we believe is infected.

Unfortunately, the first results that we've got back for the pest actually comes back to something different.

It may not be the invasive shot hole bore, but we have a secondary test that there is a very specific fusarium fungus that they carry.

That test for some reason has been delayed, and we're not quite sure.

So we're trying to figure out what's going on with that test because that's going to be the more definitive.

Um, but ultimately, kind of that was already we already had a plan in process.

We knew that this pest was coming, having come from San Jose.

It was a pest that we discovered in San Jose literally about six months before I left.

Um, it has exploded in San Jose to hundreds and thousands of trees that they're currently trying to manage.

Um, it has also moved up to Sunnyville.

They have confirmed the presence in Sunnyvale.

We believe we have it on that one tree, but we've got to confirm that.

In the interim, we started a trapping program.

Those traps were actually set out on Monday.

If you go to our urban forestry page, we actually have that month map up on the page.

Um, so we'll show those trap locations as we start getting results from those, we will be posting those results on that very same web page.

So each day that we every two weeks or so we're going to be inspecting those traps.

Those results that we get, we will then put back up onto the website.

We're going to be tracking that trap as well as we're going to be physically monitoring that area around San Ramone, because again, we're just not confident that those test results um are accurate, I'll say.

Um, so we may do um some again, some monitoring of that specific neighborhood, looking at specific trees, making sure it's um not expanding at a rapid rate.

Ultimately, it is a pest that is very, very difficult to control.

Um, everywhere else that it has come in, it has been just simply managing the decline of some of these amplifier trees or otherwise that really start to spread the pest.

They are so infested, they're laying so many eggs that they're kind of amplifying the presence of that.

And so the key is when we get to that state, this will all be on the website again.

Less than 50 trees we consider a minor infestation, up to a hundred or excuse me, less than 50 strikes.

We consider minor, up to 100, we can consider it as moderate.

More than 150 strikes on a tree, it becomes excessive, more problematic.

There are treatments, there are chemical applications that we can do to kind of reduce those spread that infection process.

Um, always trying to be very cautious with that because of our integrated pest management practices, etc.

Um, beyond that, we know this is going to have an impact on the trees.

Um, we know we are going to lose some trees to this pest.

It is about staying on top of it and getting them out as quick as possible, if needed, or treating them so that we can reduce how fast it's moving so that we can continue to keep our canopy.

Um primary species, I think, as we kind of have said, sycamores, oaks, um, ash trees, um, several other species, um, maples, acernagundos, in particular, box elders, um, are considered an amplifier.

They are one of the worst trees for this pest.

They find those trees, they infest those trees.

Decision has been made previously in most of the other areas that this has come in.

Just as soon as you see them on the factory, those those box elders, get them out.

Just take them out because you're not going to be able to control it.

You're not going to have that success rate that you have with some of those other species.

So, you know, bottom line, there's a lot for us to still learn.

They are acting a little bit differently here in northern California than they were in Southern California where they were first identified.

But we'll kind of see how this progresses over the next several years.

But this is something that we're going to have to manage as we move forward.

There's no way to control it or the short answer.

So, any questions that you have specifically about that force of seed.

Can I?

Sure.

I was in Pioneer Park.

Well, in front of you all the time, but several of the oaks, especially our centennial oak look absolutely terrible.

What does it another disease going on?

Is it stress?

I'm attributing most of those because I'm aware of a lot of those trees, especially there's one big valley oak kind of towards the south end of the building there that I've been watching the last couple of years.

Um, I think the majority of it is just site stress related, um, where water has been changed, where construction has occurred for that parking lot on the south side of the library, um, different factors for each of those, but absolutely we are monitoring them, and if needed, we will step in, do some supplemental uh fertilization, watering, whatever we need to do to kind of keep them moving.

Um, I don't want to raise an alarm bell on this one.

If you're there at Pioneer and you get the opportunity to walk along Franklin Street, all of the sycamores along Franklin in front of the library have died.

Um, we're not sure why on that one.

We're not seeing the ISHB, we're not seeing any of the common problems.

Um, what we've kind of thought is there may be some herbicide damage.

There may be some other things that are affecting them.

So we're looking at testing or otherwise.

Um, but there's about a dozen trees on that side that we're going to have to remove because we haven't been able to pinpoint it.

That's why I'm watching those oak trees or otherwise, because we have seen in a couple of other locations where it's not just the sycamores, where we are seeing it on oak, we are seeing it on ash trees that this is a similar dieback, and we just haven't gotten to the bottom.

We've been looking at it for probably two to three months now, talking to different testing um companies to see what they can test and how we can get that and samples that we need to take.

So we're just trying to kind of figure it out, but they are absolutely on our radar screen, and we see the value in those.

So we want to do everything we can to try and keep them.

The centennial oh, it didn't find like till a couple of weeks ago, and I was there just a few days ago, and it looks okay.

I haven't been there the last couple of weeks.

Is it defoliated or are the leaves browning and dying off?

It's hard to tell if it's just awful.

Okay.

Partly defoliating, I think partly, part legally.

So browning the yeah, the wrong.

So there's a couple of things that come to mind immediately on those.

One of them is we we have absolutely had a, I'll say significant um, occurrence of tusk moth this year.

Um Tussic moth is very much favorites.

Our oaks are very much a favorite of the Tussic Moth.

Um, it's quite possible.

That's why I asked about defoliation, because if we get enough of a population in the tree, they can almost defoliate that entire tree.

Um so that's the first place I go.

Second place that I go, um, is ultimately I lost track of my thought.

Um, the cussic moth, and then the other place that I went was anthrax.

That's what I was trying to say is that because of the later rains that we've had this year, oaks are sometimes susceptible to anthracnos or otherwise.

And so that would be the other place I go if they're browning and kind of staying on the tree initially, it may be an anthrachnos fungus bacteria type problem as well.

And so, bottom line, I will get out there um sometime this week or early next and take a look at that and see if there's something we can do more immediate with this.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Is always going to change what trees you're recommending for planting?

Potentially, yes.

Sycamores are already on that list.

One of the things we also did that I believe is up on the website yet.

But because sycamores are the predominant species that they saw affected in LA, and that's predominantly what San Jose saw.

What we did is we created a thought of heat map where basically we mapped the density of the sycamores throughout the city.

That's ultimately where we decided to place those tracks, is where we knew we had a large amount of hosts or otherwise.

Um, and yes, I we have to hedge our bets.

If we know that that sycamore is a favorite, we need to try to avoid them somewhat.

Again, I don't want to completely eliminate them from our palate because it's not their fault, and they may not get infected.

Um, but we have to be careful.

We don't want to plant too many more of those, knowing that it may wipe out the majority of them.

Let me jump in the native sycamore in our tree in cardinear parking step.

Okay, I planted that dismay or okay.

I will get over there and take a look at that at the same time.

That definitely has me nervous about the ones that are out um along Franklin Street that it could be tied to that same vest.

Yeah, we again I'm commissioner Sylvester has a question.

I'm gonna say we've probably identified almost 200 trees in the last three months that aren't leafing out that aren't performing the way that they should be, and so we're really scrambling to try and figure out what these issues are.

Um, two questions what is the fatality rate of the bore, or is that a metric you have?

We do not um it is significant, I'll say, as much as I'll say 30 to 40 percent, long term, it is almost always fatal.

Even management, all you're doing is slowing the progression of it.

The way that the pest operates is ultimately it it bores into the tree and then it lays this fungus down.

Once it's in the tree and it lays that fungus, we're not getting rid of the pest and we're not getting rid of the fungus, and so it's just about keeping the populations low enough to where they don't galorize the tree so much that it completely shuts down and dies.

But I'm gonna say it's a hundred percent mortality, but ultimately it's about managing it to where you know quick death, I'll say less than 30 percent.

That's still really high.

Yes, absolutely.

This this is a problem.

They they lost hundreds of thousands of trees down in the San Diego LA area.

Um, and a quick question, you mentioned the trees on Franklin.

One thing you're looking at it might be herbicides, potentially, yes.

The city's IBM uh program, it's just that it's not from the city.

Where would they become?

Sure.

Absolutely, and so one of the things it's not that we don't use herbicides, because we do, we've eliminated the the use of rounda.

Right, and so what we've done is we've gone through and we started using two or three different chemicals that were recommended to us by target specialty as alternatives.

What I fear is that one of those alternatives was used in an inappropriate location, that typically one of those chemicals should be used away from I'll say plants, shrubs, trees, etc.

Absolutely kills everything.

It is a broad spectrum herbicide.

So because it was new, somebody just they may have made the recommendations, somebody may have grabbed the wrong thing.

Again, I don't want to point fingers because I just don't know yet.

I don't want to imply that this has happened, but it wasn't like but we have to rule it out still something.

Yeah, it just treated or something.

When I look at these trees, and ultimately, I rely on my colleagues.

I was at a conference about three weeks ago, and well, actually, four or five weeks ago now.

Um, and I was going around to all of my industry professionals from LA that have dealt with the ISHB that have dealt with all kinds of things, almost unanimously, all of them were pointing towards herbicide damage.

That's what's got me looking at herbicide damage.

Um, the problem is it's not easy to test for herbicide damage.

It's very, very expensive, and you have to know specifically which chemical was used.

It's almost like you have to roll everything else out first.

Almost like, yes.

And so again, we're working on that.

I just got an email today from the testing company where I feel like we're finally going to be able to test for the one chemical in particular that I'm concerned with.

I just don't know if it's gonna give us the results because they say that they can only test water, and we don't have water per se.

And so what we're talking to them about right now is is it possible that if we take a gallon of soil and we put in three gallons of water and we make ourselves a nice compost tea or otherwise, and then we filter that into just a solution of water?

Are you still able to test and they feel like they're gonna be able to do that for us?

And so again, that's my challenge is I just I have to start ruling things out one by one and try and get this under control because knowing the ISB ISHB is here, do not feel any of these trees are related to that.

We're not seeing the strikes, we're not seeing the pest, we're not seeing anything, but it it's a problem.

It a year and a half from when we first saw symptoms at the Franklin Library to where they are maybe dead at this point, and you have to remove and replace them.

That is not typical.

There's something going on.

Do you know what you'll replace them with?

Are you going to we haven't even gotten that far yet?

You don't know if there's a susceptibility to have a certain tree.

Correct.

That that's where it goes back.

We're likely to remove them over the summer that we're going to get them out, and the hope would be we're going to replant them this fall as a part of all of our planting this winter.

Um, but haven't made any decisions on feces because I just don't know what my problem is yet, and I have to pick appropriately to avoid future problems.

Okay.

Unless there's compelling extra questions, I'd like to move us along to our next agenda item.

Um thank you very much.

Absolutely, thank you all.

And um Alison, do we still need it's fine?

Do you want to do the setup to the next minute or so to get connected to this there?

All right, our next item is item five point four.

And this will be the fiscal year 26-27 operating budget.

And couldn't see Wong will be our presenter, and she's just getting set up now.

So just one second, thank you.

Give it a second.

Yeah.

Just one second.

This happened last time, too.

And say, just like that, we can get a lot of Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

One of these days I'm gonna get it back.

Okay, good evening, commissioners.

I'm Lindsay Wong, senior management analyst for the community services department.

And tonight I'm here to present to you CSD's recommended operating budget adjustments for fiscal year 26-27.

The recommended budget was presented to city council last night, and the final budget will go to council for adoption later in June.

Next slide.

Tonight's presentation, we'll go over recommended budget adjustments for parks, forestry, shoreline, and recreation programs and services.

So first are CSD's recommended non-discretionary expenditure adjustments.

So non-discretionary adjustments are typically related to contractual rate increases or other adjustments that are considered necessary to continue existing levels of service.

So the first non-discretionary budget item for CSD is the ActiveNet fee increase.

So ActiveNet is the department's registration software system that we use to register participants for classes and programs, reserve facilities, and process point of sale transactions.

ActiveNet charges us a processing fee per transaction, and that fee typically increases annually.

So we're requesting to add $77,000 for that line item.

And then the second non-discretionary budget item is an increase to CSV's landscape maintenance contract.

So this contractor performs maintenance service on roadway medians and other landscaped areas throughout the city.

And this budget adjustment covers rate increases as well as the addition of new parcels that previously had no formal maintenance plan but now require landscape characters continue safety compliance and aesthetic standards.

Now we have uh CSD's recommended discretionary expenditures.

So for recreation, we have the Pride Celebration event.

Um the inaugural Pride event was held last year, and CSD will be hosting the 2026 event next Saturday, June 20th, which we hope you can all attend.

Um the ongoing costs for this item include vendor and contractors, supplies and materials, and part-time staff costs.

And then also recreation, we have magical bridge programming.

So starting in 2025, the city has had year-round inclusive performances at Agricle Bridge Playground at their community stage.

And ongoing cost for this item also includes uh performers, supplies and materials, and part-time staff costs.

And then moving on to shoreline, um, CSD is recommending the addition of one full-time park maintenance worker three to oversee maintenance of the Stevens Creek Trail and Permanente Creek Trail.

Historically, trail maintenance has been divided among different work groups within CSD with no dedicated staff person.

And so the addition of one dedicated park maintenance worker three for the trail system means that one staff member can ensure a consistent maintenance schedule, look for opportunities to enhance the trail and oversee hourly maintenance staff and coordinate with other crews and purchase supplies and materials for the trail.

And then next in the urban forestry division, we have the forestry outreach and education services item, which is your our canopy contract, which you just heard a lot about and got to see all the awesome work that Canopy does with us.

And I think Russell touched on this a little bit, but this contract has been funded on a one-time basis for the past few years, and we are recommending that this be funded on an ongoing basis.

So 125,000 is the recommended ongoing amount, and then we're also recommending an additional 200,000 for the tree planting that will take place in fiscal year 26-27.

And then lastly, we are recommending additional funding for training and conferences throughout the department.

So this adjustment, budget adjustment ensures that CSD staff are able to attend necessary specialized trainings and conferences as new staff have been added over the past few years, and also as the costs of training, conferences, and travel have continued to rise.

So this includes safety trainings and trainings required to maintain technical certifications for certain staff as well as industry-specific conferences that support professional development for staff.

And then next we have limited period budget items for fiscal year 26-27.

So limited period is just what the city calls items that are funded for one year at a time rather than ongoing.

And these are typically requests that are either one-time in nature or these are newer programs or pilot programs or things like that.

So first for parks, we have power washing services.

So this funding is specifically to continue monthly power washing services along the hundreds of 300 blocks of the Castro Street pedestrian mall corridor.

And specifically is for all outdoor restaurant and business patios, crosswalks, and the center walkway, including the street mural.

And this power washing service has been funded on a limited period basis for the last couple of fiscal years.

Next is ellipticals at the senior center.

So this funding is to replace two aging commercial grade ellipticals at the senior center in the exercise room.

The exercise room at the senior center is free to use, and it's heavily utilized by our senior community.

So this is just to kind of replace these older pieces of equipment.

Next is teen and college and career programming.

So these programs were initially funded through a donation from LinkedIn multiple years ago.

And then once that donation was fully expended, we continue to fund these programs through limited period funding.

And these programs are offered at the View Teen Center and include college and enrichment trips, adulting 101 workshops, career day events, and other free programs that enable teens to build crucial skills to prepare them for their future.

And then last we have the biological services contracts at Shoreline.

So this request is to continue existing contract services into the new fiscal year.

At the same time, CSD is currently working with a consultant and our HR department to review and update the job description of the wildlife preservation coordinator in order to establish a plan for ongoing biological and environmental support at Shoreline.

The contractors are currently responsible for surveying and monitoring wildlife, developing monitoring plans for habitat enhancement projects and other services required to support the goals outlined in the Brewing Owl Preservation Plan and the Shoreline Wildlife Management Plan.

And then lastly, we have capital outlay items.

So capital outlay items are typically pieces of equipment or sometimes minor building improvements that are basically less costly than a full capital improvement project.

So first we are recommending wood shipper safety shield devices.

These are devices that will be installed on the forestry division's three existing wood chippers.

As you can imagine, wood chippers are very dangerous pieces of equipment.

So these are these devices use new technology, new magnetic technology as an added safety measure for staff.

And then next, we're recommending a new projector here at the community center in the Redwood Hall to replace the current projector and just enhance AV capabilities for events.

It's been here since the new community center opened, and it's just had issues with the lamps or the bulbs having to be replaced all that.

So the new projectors like state of the art and more efficient as well.

So those are all of the recommended requests that were included in the budget item last night.

So as far as next steps on June 23rd, we will adopt the fiscal year 26-27 budget.

And then on July 1st, the new fiscal year starts.

And that is the end of my presentation.

So I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Oh, budget.

Great.

Thank you.

Let's see.

Questions.

Start on this slide.

Questions?

Yeah.

The thing that stood out to you was the act of that 50%.

How do they justify that?

Um, so the active net fees, so they do uh vary based on the type of transaction.

So basically the the per transaction fee, it's anywhere from like two percent to five percent.

So there's different fees based on if it's like a on-site transaction or if it's an online transaction, credit card transaction.

So they kind of vary.

Um, but they have we have had to pay the the per transaction fees since we implemented the software, and I presume that other registration softwares probably charge similar fees, um, but it's not just that the fee itself is going up, like they're charging us a slightly higher percent, but also because the number of transactions that we process every year increases, we have to kind of continue to so the revenue also goes up and and kind of offsets that so um just like some rough numbers, we process around 42,000 transactions annually, and then the total revenue just for the recreation division alone last last fiscal year was around 3.5 million dollars.

So we do bring in a lot of revenue with those added transactions, but um and that's not a single year increase, so we don't look at uh we haven't increased.

Well, we haven't increased it.

I don't think we increased it last year.

We kind of increase it like every couple of years, um, just so that we don't have to come back every year and do this rate increase.

Um just to follow up on your question on what you go back.

But when you make this presentation, are you also showing the revenue offset as part of this?

It's not just a 77,000 dollar incremental expense.

You're also saying it's also gonna increase revenue by 30 or something like that.

Yeah, so we do adjust our revenue lines as well when we uh when we so the process is like we submit our budget requests with to city leadership to finance, we work with them, and then they kind of you know balance the city's budget, but we do work with them to adjust those revenue lines as well.

So the added revenue is also built into the revenue budget so that you know we can show that we're we're meeting those revenue targets and exceeding our revenue.

Go ahead.

Do I understand that to be uh placeholder until an FTE is so it's basically paying consultant until you hire something?

Correct, and then uh based on the outcomes of the job description, there may be certain we have some lessons learned through this.

So there may be some helpful aspects of what they're doing now as consultants to keep them on for certain things, but not to keep them on as a to um basically be the full-time employee.

So yes, we'll bring on a full-time employee and determine what type of additional assistance they may provide, but we'll see how those come together.

And then I recall last night the council member coming in was asking you to look at lactation.

So, are you gonna do that?

So, the council did not give us direction last night that what we were asked to do was to look at it for future reference, and so uh the library um director emailed me today with a little more information.

I have to look at how large it is, can we accommodate it?

Um, what the best location would be.

Um, and so we'll we'll look into that.

What does that require other than just privacy?

That's it's big.

So yeah, that's you've seen the one at the library.

I've seen the map like airports and everything, yeah, yeah.

So they're a little mini trailer, yeah.

It's uh it's a capsule, if you will.

The difficult place to questions.

So I just said uh a couple questions.

So one, you know, I just again this, it would be great to do this before it actually went to council, and I know that we've just addressed that in the past, and I thought we were gonna try to get this first.

I don't know if you can comment on the timing of this because um once it's gone to council, there's we did not we can do it.

And we would probably be a great test audience for you as as well on some of these things.

We could so there's a balance of bringing requests to the commission in advance of council um i think we are trying again the timing of when items are going to council has changed so last night was not their first shot at the budget they did back in april as uh as a precursor to what was coming and so the timing has changed for us of a good time to come to you and so we're coming to you tonight if if there was something that is was of significant concern we would be able to have time to turn around and move on um given the what I would call limited requests this year I didn't think it's anything on there is significant um that requires a lot of dialogue um from the commission if I did we we might look at doing things differently but this really was a pretty low level year for us yeah I mean I guess you know one question that I would have is is given that the uh strategic plan is now passed and and biodiversity will probably also pass and we have head countish things in those plans whether it would have been appropriate or is it too early to introduce those things because you don't know exactly what what they're gonna look like but we hopefully for next year's budget right and so that we have not had time to do the analysis and appropriate work to make a budget submittal I want to remind this group that we as the department start submitting our request budget requests in December and so we are starting in October everything falls through me before it gets moved on then we submit it we come back in January February we with finance then we meet with city manager and others um and through that process our you know our requests start coming down even more to get to this point.

And so um looking at that timeline impractical for us to be in a position to make those requests right okay yeah and maybe I don't know if there's mid year opportunities to do do a mid-year yes correct look at um and then just one question you sort of touched on it so you watched but how did council react to the um community service division request other than the the question regarding the lactation um area uh there were no questions I have not received any specific questions through the process related to our requests okay and the budget overall for the city that was presented was okay I mean it was balanced yeah I mean there wasn't some top down thing that says you know this is a little too much we need to cut 10% or something no okay go ahead soon would you be able to share how you see working with us on in developing budget related matters for the strategic plan and the biodiversity plan I realize you might not be able to sit here and answer that question right now but I mean just looking out over the next year it would be really nice to know whether there's any input points where there's decisions or you know things that we could assist you with.

So because it would be a shame to be in the same place next year.

Understood yeah yeah um in relation to the plans and the way the world moving forward um a couple of things to to respond to the question.

Number one is some of the short-term action steps that have been identified specifically with the Parks and Right Strategic Plan.

Many of those are almost cost neutral.

Looking at our existing um codes, policies, that type of thing, staff time, but not a lot of expenditure.

Is we look to looking at full time and head count.

There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to be able to bring forward a good solid plan of what that looks like.

And so as we move forward on that, we'll continue that conversation.

Yeah, I mean, I think you know this group is interested in the budget education as well, and I'm sure the public is too.

And we'll be bringing specific actions, those actions that are identified, we'll be bringing those to you as they're being worked on, produced.

I see a lot of them just being one at a time that we're going to be bringing some of those items.

Because you're at their revenue neutral and you're able to find the staff time or piggyback about something else.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's just more thinking about like how you might change how you would be, you know, changing your processes because now you'll be working with these other departments and you know, yes, all that.

And some of it may require some initial effort, and so that we can determine the type of help we need, right?

And so Brenda for the biodiversity, she'll be taking the lead in working with the cross-departmental team, looking to identify what those actions are, and then there's gonna come a point she's gonna be able to identify this is the type of um position we're gonna need to support that.

And so it's gonna be a little bit necessarily it's not necessarily gonna all be capital improvement, but it's kind of some of it followed, but head count, yes, departmental, no, just sounds like you're gonna need some money to come back, not whole boards.

So I'm gonna put it in Tegram for that.

So let me check and see if there's any public comment.

Anything online?

No.

All right.

So, unless there are any other comments on this one, we'll close this one off.

Thank you very much, Lindsay.

Um, we'll now move on to item six commission staff announcements updates.

Director Marshall, which you're gonna be quick.

Uh, just a reminder we are meeting again next week.

We'll be at City Hall.

Um, it is two more um heritage tree appeals.

Plus, we'll be looking at our um work plan for the upcoming year.

Um I emailed, uh, I sent out an email to the group um in advance of the council meeting.

Um last night, council did approve the purchase of the additional property at 975 to that is a 0.86 acre parcel to take what was um the parcels we had already taken uh and brought together.

That was again that was 2.4.

With this addition, we are now at 3.2.

So really bringing us to what the size of Pyramid Park is, um, and that's significant.

So being able to um bring a multiple properties together in this area was significant for us.

And um, in addition to that area being um in need of parks, that area is going to be expanding as we look at what type of development is on the horizon.

There's um some um pretty significant development that's scheduled to go in that area.

So this is certainly uh much needed.

Uh uh Lindsay stated, um, Pride event, June 20th, downtown, uh, please join us.

Um this week was and is um our training week for all of our summer staff and lifeguards.

So it's been busy here, and then um all of our um city sponsored and supported um camps start next week.

Um and there are a number of events and and camps taking place out of sailing lake, the sailing lake cafe is under construction right now that continues to stay on track.

Um but the sailing lake itself continues to be operational and supporting um summer camps out there.

So um those are my my updates.

We have to do a question on world.

Are you involved in the down any of the downtown uh festivity for world club?

And then also I think I saw there's something happening at Quebec Park.

Is that something that you guys are overseeing?

I have staff involved with economic development.

Yes, and so uh foot golf.

Um, believe that's kicking off tomorrow.

Um, so that was from um uh recreation manager Paul and James has been involved in that.

Um, and then downtown, um, I forget the dates, but um where the old wells cargo was next to City Hall, and that uh parking lot is currently closed to public access.

Um, that property owner has allowed the city to install a um uh a soccer pitch, if you will, like a five on five soccer pitch for the duration of the World Cup.

Um, and it'll be available um to use and participate in that way.

Um, and so yes, staff has been involved in the development of these activities.

And I know that they've been trying to work with the uh with businesses to get them involved, as well as the youth sports organizations, um so um, believe it's AYSO is doing some outreach to the community, actually doing some free soccer camp type of activities.

Drop in um to support the activities.

Um the San Jose earthquakes actually, their mascot Q will be coming out and um playing some foot golf out at Questa one day.

Um, so that quest up there.

I mean, is it run sort of like multiple hours?

I mean, I went on the website and it wasn't there yet or something like that.

It will just be dropping and available, bring your own ball and okay.

So it's not play is it is not an organized feedback.

No, drop in and enjoy.

Go ahead.

Um, someone last night of council, I think it was a member of the public, mentioned that there was another property that just came for sale near the Terrabella Park.

That's all that was mentioned.

It would it would have been sort of uh the new property is sort of in the middle, I think it was on one.

So, 965 is available, um so when it comes to property acquisition.

I will say that um this was a um getting 975 was um uh what's the word opportunistic the perfect storm came together.

Um and the funds available were in place we were able to take advantage of at this time.

I don't have the available funds to purchase an additional property in this location.

Uh I basically used the the funding we had left in this area to um put towards uh the purchase and then also the um design and construction as part of the overall.

So at the moment, as much as I would like to, um that's just not in the cards right now.

We know the property owner.

Um and I don't think it's gonna be picked up anytime soon.

So it is an it's an opportunity for down the road if nothing else comes to fruition.

We will keep our eye on it um if and when we have some additional funds to put that.

Well, thank you.

Can we do a loan internal transfer from another plant?

Understanding that development is coming in that area, and it will probably be placement fees.

Can you have other?

We are having some of those conversations now.

Yeah, so for example, measure, it't need to measured measure G.

G.

You know, we got 1.5 million.

You already is that 1.5 already used for this.

I mean, it's just there's I will tell you as soon as anybody heard I had 1.5 million dollars.

Everybody wanted to spend um so yes, and it's the new community development director came up with this term with you know a lot of times we have money that is very strictly available for certain things.

Um the 1.5 is almost what we what he calls uh rainbow belt.

We can use it where we need to and when we need to.

Um one of the items that I don't have funding for right now, and I am trying to save a little pot of money is to design and construct Calveron Park.

So I'm trying to be the trying to keep hands off because we've had the property for a while, it is a location that is visible.

We want we want to bring that to fruition, and so I'm using and I'm prioritizing that right now unless a greater priority pops up and at 1.5 more purchase another piece of property.

Yeah, with all due respect though, the chances of buying buying land where we want it, that will make it a really almost unthinkable.

A large part seems to take priority over everything.

So you were saying that you you have the money for buying and planning and building, it seems like it's better to wait a little with the design, maybe and just get the land together.

Because those are still not enough funding.

I would if I could.

If it made sense right now, that and the timing that we need to use some of the funding, it's just not coming together.

Strategic strategic acquisition fund and all the rest, everything used up.

If you think the price is too high, it's better to let it marinate a while.

True.

Again, it we know these property owners very well.

Um, I will say they've been they have been great to work with and um feel their pricing has been.

It's been good, okay.

It's been uh fair, fair market value that we we've been picking on.

Yeah, okay.

Given the type of still marination, right?

Yeah, not be a bad thing.

Yeah, any other uh commissioner questions or announcements.

I I have one comment.

Um I was actually going to know to ask whether the city was investigating the condition of your park.

So no idea, uh, but but a couple of days ago when I was there, I told Cliff that I just didn't want to go to your park again for a while because it's really depressing.

There's like five or six trees dying, and the fact that our centennial oak looks close to death, uh and then clearly Russell's working on it.

I think it's a really high priority, but also when he was mentioning taking out the tree from Franklin, it would be really useful for the community to know about this, absolutely, because that there is, I mean, I now feel better knowing that he's looking at it, but for more community members walking there and seeing dying tree and seeing all the street trees going out, you know, on the website or a sign to explain what's going on.

You know, the city knows the city's working on it.

Would you we would absolutely do outreach before trees are remote?

No, not before Theresa removed, but but just yes, before Teresa removed, but the park was pretty, you know, just even on the website to say there is something going on.

We're working on it.

We're doing this.

Okay.

Anything else?

All right.

Um, our next meeting is next Wednesday, six o'clock.

Uh plaza conference room at City Hall, and then uh tentatively, we are off for three months, and we will meet here again on September 9th at 6 o'clock.