There has been much concern voiced today for the eucalyptus trees on the 100 block of E Avenue. I want to share some thoughts about these trees and the actions taken by the Coronado City Council in the last few months.
The City of Coronado was put on notice by a resident about a tree on that block whose fallen limb was an indicator of future danger from that tree and others on that block. The City hired the services of a certified arborist firm to evaluate all the eucalyptus trees on the 100 block of E Avenue. The arborists identified 4 trees on that block that they felt posed a significant risk of a structural failure. The Council then had to decide what steps it wanted to take in light of this information. If the City did not take deliberate steps to remedy this safety issue, the City of Coronado would be incurring a degree of legal liability that would be difficult to justify. If someone were to be harmed by any of the four trees diagnosed as being in poor shape by the arborists, we as a city would have been susceptible to an accusation of doing little to remedy a dangerous situation.
Just trimming the trees would not have been sufficient to remedy the safety problems posed by these four trees. They are very large trees with heavy branches and very heavy trunks. These four trees also had various defects that made trimming insufficient in addressing their potential dangers. No one on the City Council was happy about having these four trees removed, but the public’s safety was our number one concern. The remainder of the trees on the 100 block of E Avenue passed muster with the arborists we hired and the City will be vigilant in its maintenance of them. We are also committed as a City Council in working with the residents of the 100 block of E Avenue and other concerned citizens in creating a process for selecting replacements for these four trees. We as a City Council thought it most appropriate to replace them with younger eucalyptus trees, but there is certainly time to discuss other options, should that be the preference of the stakeholders involved in these future discussions.
I am sorry that this process, so legal in nature, was not more open to the public. When a city is investigating its own legal liability, it is inappropriate to have public meetings with regard to the liability issues. I value the sensibilities of those that want these trees to be saved and I am sorry that we are not in a better position to be able to keep these four unstable eucalyptus specimens.
Source: Casey Tanaka via Facebook
UPDATE: City agrees to delay cutting down trees & discuss options with community. http://fox5sandiego.com/2014/09/23/coronado-tree-sitter-comes-down-after-talk-with-mayor/
