Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks*

"The private citizens of the City are required to follow the City's permitting process when they cut, remove, or edit an oak tree." (sic) City Council Response: Partially Disagree. Private citizens are only required to obtain a permit for certain work performed to a tree that qualifies as a protected oak tree by ordinance standards. Trees that are less than 2" in diameter at 4 ½ feet above grade are not protected and require no permit. Pruning in some cases, such as pruning branches that are less than 2" in diameter and within 5 feet of a structure do not require a permit. Removing deadwood from a tree also does not require a permit. Lastly, trees that are verified by the City as an oak tree planted by an owner of a property are exempt from the protection ordinance and require no permit for any work to or around the tree.

"The private citizens of the City are required to replace two oak trees for every one removed." City Council Response: Partially Disagree. The City generally requires a replacement ratio of 3 oak trees for each healthy oak tree approved for removal on a commercial or industrial zoned property. This removal ratio only applies to oak trees that are a live, non-hazardous, and protected oak tree specimen. This mitigation number may be increased or decreased based on the availability of nursery grown trees. For residentially-zoned properties where a house already exists, the replacement ratio is reduced to 1 replacement oak tree for each removed live, non-hazardous, and protected oak tree specimen. The purpose of the replacement requirement is to ensure the City maintains its oak tree forest in the community. For removal of a dead or hazardous oak tree, the City requires one (1) fifteen gallon replacement oak tree planted on the property where the tree was removed or the placement of one (1) fifteen gallon size oak a tree on public property. For oak trees that do not qualify as protected, the oak tree replacement guidelines do not apply.

"The City is exempted from obtaining permits, when remediation is required for public safety purposes." 1196 City Council Report to Grand Jury Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks Dated April 17, 2013 City Council Response: Agree.

"The Grand Jury found that the private property owner is required to have a final inspection and sign-off for an oak tree permit, but the City does not." City Council Response: Partially Disagree. The City does not require final sign-off or inspection of an oak tree permit. Periodic inspections may occur during encroachment activity to or around an oak tree, such as in cases where a City staff person is advised that work is occurring outside the permit parameters or in cases where a significant pruning operation is occurring that precipitates The City requires an applicant's oak tree occasional inspections. consultant/arborist to certify that all work to or around a protected oak tree specimen was performed in accordance with the permit conditions. For City oak tree permits, a City licensed arborist monitors the work authorized by the permit and coordinates with staff from the Community Development Department. The City licensed arborist certifies that the permit conditions were satisfied.

"The Grand Jury found that the City has an undocumented practice of planting replacement oak trees away from the removal site(s) and provided replacement trees to the CRPD." City Council Response: Partially Disagree. When a non-hazardous City oak tree is removed, the reason for removal is generally to accommodate public infrastructure or for public safety purposes. In most cases, a tree replacement in the same location as the removal site was not feasible due to the improvements occurring in that area or the area was not a suitable location for an oak tree. In some cases, the replacement trees were provided to the Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) and planted at a park site for public benefit. In other cases, street medians, parkways, and public landscape areas received trees to Due to the physical constraints of infrastructure offset the removal. improvements, as well as evaluating locations to determine the best site for a replacement tree that would provide the most public benefit, a replacement location is typically not immediately available. The City of Thousand Oaks owns and maintains a diverse urban forest of over 27,000 street trees that is spread out over 54 square miles. City-owned street trees are defined as a designated theme tree or approved replacement tree, planted as a requirement of development or upon city consent and is located within the City's public right-of-way or public service easement. It should be noted 1100 City Council Report to Grand Jury Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks Dated April 17, 2013 that 4,200 of the City's street trees are comprised of 10 different Oak species including California native Coast Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata), most of which were planted by developers. The City takes great pride in maintaining its urban forest. Only City staff or an authorized City agent is permitted to trim City street trees, which must be trimmed to both City and International Society of Arboriculture standards. The 'topping' of City street trees is strictly prohibited and they may only be removed if the tree is found to meet the City's strict removal criteria by one of the City's three certified arborists. Conditions that can cause a City arborist to justify the removal of a street tree are typically safety related and include when a tree is dead or dying; creating a hazardous structural or sight distance condition that cannot be corrected through trimming, root pruning, or some other form of corrective action; or if the tree is damaging the City's infrastructure and the cost of repairs is greater than the value of the tree or the repairs will jeopardize the stability of the tree. When a City street tree is removed that is not protected by the Oak Tree ordinance, the tree is typically replaced on site at a ratio of one to one with either an appropriate 15-gallon or 24-inch box size tree. Occasionally, conditions exist within the City's public right-of-way or public service easement that simply makes it impractical to plant a replacement tree in the same location or at a nearby location. When restrictive conditions exist at the subject site, the City will make every effort to perform its due diligence and identify alternative planting locations, especially when the subject tree is an Oak species. Additionally, when the subject tree is either a naturally germinated Valley or Coast Live Oak, the City will explore all options and, when necessary, undertake extraordinary efforts to either save the tree or replace it with a tree(s) that exceed requirements. In an effort to continuously improve maintenance operations and administrative procedures, the City has added new activity codes to the Public Works Department's MaintStar work order program, allowing the City to track and quantify work specifically relating to all Oak specie street trees. Additionally, the Public Works Department has created a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that requires Public Works staff to follow specific guidelines when evaluating the possibility of trimming any naturally germinated heritage Oak tree and/or removing any Oak tree. The new SOP for Oak tree trimming and/or removal is as follows: 1. The subject Oak tree(s) shall be evaluated by a City arborist and the arborist's findings shall be documented within the MaintStar work order program. It should be noted that if the City arborist or an authorized City Council Report to Grand Jury Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks Dated April 17, 2013 City agent determines that the subject Oak tree(s) constitutes an immediate hazard to the public, the City may take appropriate and immediate action to address the hazardous condition. 2. Planted Oak tree(s) that need to be trimmed - If the City arborist determines that the subject Oak tree(s) need to be trimmed, City staff may proceed as necessary and all work must be documented within the MaintStar work order program. Naturally germinated heritage Valley or Coast Live Oak tree(s) that need to be trimmed - If the City arborist determines that the subject Oak tree(s) need to be trimmed, an Oak tree permit shall be acquired from the Community Development Department prior to the commencement of any work. All work must be documented within the MaintStar work order program. 4. Planted Oak tree(s) that need to be removed - If the City arborist determines that the subject Oak tree(s) needs to be removed, an Oak tree permit shall be acquired from the Community Development Department prior to the commencement of any work. All work must be documented within the MaintStar work order program. 5. Naturally germinated heritage Valley or Coast Live Oak tree(s) that need to be removed - If the City arborist determines that the subject Oak tree(s) need to be removed, the City must consult with a Registered Consulting Arborist (RCA) who must conduct either a Level 2 or 3 inspection depending on the circumstances. If the RCA

"The Grand Jury found that the Lang Ranch Dam, the Knolls Apartment site, the Thousand Oaks Library, Teen and Senior Centers, the Children's Library City Council Report to Grand Jury Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks Dated April 17, 2013 extension and the Conejo Creek Park projects required the removal of 128 oak trees." City Council Response: Agree. A cumulative total of 128 oak trees were approved for removal among the six referenced projects. The vast majority (117) of these tree removals were associated with two of the projects - the Lang Ranch Dam (60 trees) and the Knolls Apartments (57 trees), both of which were approved about 20 years ago. The Lang Ranch Dam was a required public safety project to insure flood protection to residents and businesses downstream in the central part of Thousand Oaks. The Knolls apartment project was built pursuant to a Stipulated Judgment to settle a lawsuit brought against the City in Federal District Court by the Lang Ranch property owner. Although the Judgment required approval of The Knolls apartment project, necessitating the tree removals, it also provided the City with an additional 750 acres of open space and reduced the overall approved development density in the Lang Ranch area by approximately 2,000 dwelling units. The removal of the 128 trees in all six projects mentioned was mitigated by the planting of 379 replacement oak trees.

"The Grand Jury found no report or documentation of two-to-one replacement of oak trees removed by the City, as required of private property owners." City Council Response: Partially Disagree. When an oak tree permit is processed for removal of oak trees in conjunction with a development permit for any City project, that oak tree permit documents the required tree replacement ratio for each tree removal (generally 3 to 1 ratio). If there is a City project that does not require a development permit, such as a street widening project, the mitigation is provided by the City's landscape maintenance department and is typically provided at a higher replacement ratio than normally required. An example is the current Erbes Road widening project, where the City is providing a 5 to 1 replacement ratio. As mentioned above in Findings FI-02 and FI-04, the City's tree replacement ratio is generally 3 to 1 for commercial and industrial zoned properties and 1 to 1 on residential properties. The city does not inspect nor document that a replacement tree was planted, rather relies on confirmation from the owner of the property. However, in most cases, homeowners elect to donate an oak tree rather than burden the property with another oak tree. In those cases, staff coordinates the donation efforts with the Conejo Recreation and Park District. City Council Report to Grand Jury Oak Tree Replacement in Thousand Oaks Dated April 17, 2013 Finding number 05 expands on the City's on-going oak tree replacement and planting program.

"The Grand Jury found that in April, 2010, the City Council modified an ordinance that allows private property owners to remove an oak tree if they can document the original planting of the tree." City Council Response: Agree. The City's oak tree ordinance, codified as Title 5, Chapter 14 of the Thousand Oaks Municipal Code, and its corresponding Oak Tree Preservation and Protection Guidelines policy (Resolution 2010-14), was amended in 2010 and changed several aspects of the previously existing protection standards and permitting procedures. One of the more significant changes involved exempting "owner-planted" oak trees from the ordinance. Owner-planted trees are those placed in the ground by any owner of the property, both private and public property owners, including the City. If the tree is verified as an owner-planted tree, the current owner of the tree may encroach upon the tree as they choose, without requiring any permit, evaluation, or mitigation by the City.