Planning Director Hearing on Tree Removal Permit at 1121 Cock Lane - April 30, 2025
Planning Director Hearing on Tree Removal Permit at 1121 Cock Lane
On April 30, 2025, at 9:00 AM, the San Jose Planning Director Hearing, presided over by Hearing Officer Sylvia Doe on behalf of Director Christopher Burton, convened via Zoom to consider a single agenda item: a live tree removal permit (TR25-122) for a Dollar Tree store at 1121 Cock Lane. The hearing concluded at 9:34 AM with approval of the permit.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Lillian (District 3): Expressed concern over the removal of redwoods, calling them an important California tree. She asked for clarification on what a "box tree" is and commended the applicant for keeping replacement trees on site.
- Celene Sabeda (neighbor on Denny Way): Described the removal of 60–70-year-old redwoods as significantly impacting her property and the street's beautification. She urged the city to require even larger replacement trees than the 24-inch box size, and also noted that the Dollar Tree's signage is not fully lit at night.
- Sue Williams (resident on Denny for 47 years): Expressed deep upset at the removal of redwoods that had been there for 47 years. She agreed that 24-inch box trees are inadequate and criticized the property's poor maintenance, which she said affects property values and neighborhood quality of life.
Discussion Items
- Staff Presentation (Alex Hughes, Code Enforcement Planner): Explained that the seven redwoods were removed without a permit due to a miscommunication with a DOT permit. Three remaining trees were topped and considered unsafe by the city arborist. Standard replacement for native species is 5:1 (35 15-gallon trees), but because this is a code enforcement case, the ratio is doubled to 70 15-gallon trees. The applicant proposes 35 24-inch box trees (each box tree counts as two 15-gallon trees), which meets the requirement. Recommended approval.
- Applicant Comments (Gino Borello, ownership group, and Kyla Phillips, consulting arborist): Borello acknowledged the situation and expressed commitment to a good path forward. Phillips explained that "24-inch box" refers to the size of the root ball, which is planted in the ground after removing the wooden box. Proposed tree species include columnar magnolia, maple (for fall color), and strawberry trees. Also noted that oak trees in the park strip were part of the separate DOT project. Borello added that the project will include wood chipping, a slurry seal, restriping, and improved weekly maintenance, and he will investigate the signage issue.
- Hearing Officer Deliberation: Sylvia Doe confirmed the standard 5:1 replacement ratio for native redwoods, doubled due to code enforcement. She noted that planting 35 24-inch box trees on the property is a positive outcome, providing larger and quicker-maturing trees for the neighborhood. She also acknowledged that the three topped trees are unsafe and must be removed.
Key Outcomes
- Decision: Approved the tree removal permit (TR25-122) to legalize the removal of seven redwood trees at 1121 Cock Lane.
- Condition Amended: Permit condition #1 was updated to clarify that the seven removed trees are redwoods (changing "trees" to "redwood trees").
- Replacement Requirement: The applicant must plant 35 24-inch box trees on the property (equivalent to 70 15-gallon trees, satisfying the doubled code enforcement ratio). Species must be suitable as determined by the city arborist.
- No Deferrals or Consent Calendar Items: No items were deferred, and there were no consent calendar items.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. It's 9 o'clock AM, so we are now calling to order the planning director hearing of April 30th, 2025. My name is Sylvia Doe, and I am the hearing officer for today's agenda on behalf of and delegated by the Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, Christopher Burton. This meeting is being held via Zoom conference call. Members of the public may participate by following the instructions listed on page two of the agenda. If you would like to provide public comment, you have two methods to do so. For participants who joined electronically and have audio input available on their computer or smartphone, they can use the raised hand feature in Zoom during the agenda item they would like to speak to, or click star nine on their phone. Remember to keep your raised hand feature on until planning support staff identify your turn to speak. During the meeting, please call 408 5353505 or email planning support staff at San Jose CA.gov and identify your name that's listed on Zoom, the phone number that you'll call into Zoom with, and what item or items you would like to comment on. All members of public will remain on mute until the individual identifies they would like to speak and they are unmuted. Planning support staff will identify you by name when it is your turn to speak. At this time, you will be unmuted and can provide public comment for the allotted time. If you exceed your allotted time, you may be muted so we can move on to the next speaker. Please note the following. The hearing procedure and order of input will be as follows. First, I will identify each project as listed on the agenda. For those items on the consent calendar, I will ask if anyone wishes to speak on the item. If a separate discussion is warranted, I will move the item to the public hearing portion of the agenda. If a separate discussion is not needed, the item will remain on the consent calendar for approval. For those items listed under public hearing, I will ask staff to provide a brief report. The applicant or the representative who wishes to speak on the item will have up to five minutes to speak and should identify themselves by stating their name for the record. After the applicant or the representative has spoken, any member of the public who wishes to speak on the item may provide testimony up to two minutes per speaker, either for or against the project. All members of the public should identify their name for the record, although it is not required. Following comments from the public, the applicant may make additional remarks for up to five minutes. I will then close the public hearing and I may ask staff to answer questions, respond to comments made by the applicant or the public, or further discuss the item. I will then take action on the item. If you challenge these land use decisions in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at this public hearing or in public or in written correspondence delivered to the city at or prior to the public hearing. The planning director's actions on agenda items will be final when the permit is signed and mailed, unless the permit or the environmental clearance determination is appealed. The planning director's actions on the permits are appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 20 of the municipal code. The planning director's actions on the environmental review for the permits under the California Environmental Quality Act are separately appealable in accordance with the requirements of Title 21 of the Municipal Code. Before we begin, I want to remind members of the public to follow our code of conduct at meetings. This includes commenting on the specific agenda item only. Public speakers will not engage in a conversation with the hearing officer or staff. The hearing officer, staff, and the public are expected to refrain from abusive language. Repeated failure to comply with the code of conduct, which will disturb, disrupt, or impede the orderly conduct of this meeting, may result in removal from the meeting. This meeting of the director hearing will now come to order. All right, this brings us to the second portion of the agenda, deferrals. Any items scheduled for hearing this morning for which deferral to a future meeting date is being requested will be moved to this portion of the agenda and considered on the matter of deferral. I will identify any items to be deferred and ask for comments from the audience. If you want to change any of the deferral dates or speak to the question of deferring these or any other items, please use the raised hand feature in Zoom or click star nine to raise your hand to speak. I will now open the public hearing. There are no items proposed for deferral this morning. If any members of the public or staff would wish to defer any of the agendized items this morning, again, now is the opportunity to speak. And I'll just check to see if any members of the public has their hand raised. Again, what the matter of deferrals means is that if there are any agenda items scheduled for today's hearing, which there's only one, and that's a tree removal permit on Cock Lane. That means you do not want the item to be discussed today, and you are requesting that this item be referred to a future hearing date rather than being discussed today. So if that's the case, please raise your hand in Zoom or click star nine to speak. At this time with deferrals, this is not the opportunity to speak on any agendized items. That'll be later in the agenda. Okay, so I still see one raised hand in Zoom.
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