Administrative Zoning Hearing on Heritage Tree Removal Permit – August 26, 2026
Administrative Zoning Hearing – Heritage Tree Removal Permit
The Mountain View Zoning Administrator held a public hearing on August 26, 2026, at 4:00 PM in the Plaza Conference Room, 500 Castro St. The sole agenda item was a request by Ava Kuo for Terra Bella II, LP, to remove one heritage tree (a declining oak) at 1020 Terra Bella Avenue and plant two replacement trees, in connection with a previously approved 100% affordable housing development. The hearing concluded at 4:07 PM with approval of the permit.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke on this item or during the oral communications portion of the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Staff Presentation (Edgar Maravilla): Staff recommended approval of the Heritage Tree Removal Permit. The tree, located at the northwest corner of Terra Bella and San Rafael Avenues, was originally identified during the 2023 City Council approval of the six-story, 108-unit affordable housing project. Since then, the tree’s health had deteriorated significantly, as documented in the attached arborist report. Staff noted the applicant proposes to remove the tree and replace it with two silver leaf oak trees. The project is categorically exempt from CEQA under Section 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land).
- Applicant Presentation (Elsa Salgado, Associate Project Manager at Al Housing): Ms. Salgado explained that the applicant initially sought to retain or relocate the heritage tree, but the arborist determined that relocation was not viable due to the tree’s poor health. The tree was located in the path of a construction crane for the affordable housing development. The applicant’s solution is to remove the tree and plant two replacement heritage trees. She expressed support for the staff recommendation.
Key Outcomes
- The Zoning Administrator approved the Heritage Tree Removal Permit (HTR-18766) based on the findings and conditions posted online and the materials reviewed by staff. The decision is appealable to the City Council within 10 calendar days of the decision (i.e., by September 5, 2026).
- The hearing was adjourned at 4:07 PM.
Meeting Transcript
City Council in 2023 for a six-story hundred and eight residential affordable housing project. This was a little over uh three years ago. Since then the tree has deteriorated in health. He now finds himself in very poor health beyond the repair uh per the Arbor's report, which is attached with the uh materials of today's agenda. Um as such, uh staff is recommending that uh the tree uh be approved for removal. Uh the applicant is proposing to replace it with two silver leaf oak trees. Um, and on the screen, you'll be able to see uh the red X uh designating the area where uh the heritage tree is located, and uh the green circles are uh the proposed uh replacement trees. Um with that staff has reviewed all the material and again um it is recommending uh approval of his heritage tree removal program. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Edgar. It's now the applicant's turn to make a presentation if they are available on Zoom. Uh if if you're the applicant, this is your time to speak to the item. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Hello, everyone, I'm Brown. Um, I'm Elsa, uh, associate project manager at Al Housing. And yes, we've been working alongside with Edgar to um, you know, first we were really going to make sure we uh found retention for this tree because it is a heritage tree, but um we even plan to even relocate the tree because originally it was in the path of the construction crane, so it didn't cause that obstruction. Um once we discussed with our arborist, our arborist recommended that the relocation um would not be useful since the tree was in um very bad um health. And so uh at the end, our arborist did recommend that we um you know remove the tree and then just replace it with two additional heritage trees. Um so that is our our solution and our path forward. Um yeah, let me know if you have any questions. Okay, thank you, Mrs. Salgado. Um, so when we will now move on to opening up the item to public comments. And is there any we would just ask if uh there's anyone on Zoom that would like to put comments on item three point one? Um as a reminder, if you're on Zoom, please use the raise hand feature to raise your hand. And uh Roxanne, do we have anyone that would like to speak from the public? None. Okay. Seeing none. Um I will now ask uh the applicant if there's any additional brief comments you'd like to make before I close the public hearing. Uh not at this time, thank you. Okay, thank you. Uh I will now close the public hearing and I will move forward in making a motion to approve item three point one based on the findings and conditions posted online and the application materials reviewed by city staff. I can make the required findings to grant the heritage tree removal permit. And please note that this decision of approval is appealable to the city council within 10 calendar days of my decision. And this concludes our public hearing today at 407 p.m. If anyone has any follow-up questions on any agenda items, please contact Edgar Mayor via. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Another one down. Another one down time to go home. Oh, nice. Like messed it with uh the coils and spark plug. It's an older car, so no. I had to drive uh my wife's better than the car note every month. That's right. I know how I have one of those two. Oh, well, at least you don't have two.
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