Palo Alto

Palo Alto Tree Ordinance Under Fire After Storm Damage

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A Palo Alto ordinance that protects designated heritage trees from being trimmed or removed by residents is coming under fire by neighbors after some of those trees came crashing into yards and homes this month, brought down by strong winds.

Several residents and a City Council member agree the heritage tree protections are too extreme and put residents and their properties in danger.

Anneke and Ray Dempsey haved lived in their Palo Alto home for 34 years. During that time, a large oak tree shaded their backyard, part of it sitting on their property and the rest on city owned land.

A Palo Alto ordinance that protects designated heritage trees from being trimmed or removed by residents is coming under fire by neighbors after some of those trees came crashing into yards and homes this month, brought down by strong winds. Bob Redell reports.

Four years ago, the health of the tree started to worry Anneke, so she asked the city for permission to trim it.

"The automatic answer was no you cannot do it, it's a heritage tree, it's part of our property, the city's property," Anneke said.

On March 14, gusty winds brought the tree crashing into her yard, where it narrowly missed her husband and dog, who had just come inside. The fallen tree left significant damage to water and electricity lines, fences and her neighbors' gutters.

Anneke says she wants the city to take action and inspect trees that have started to lean on her neighbors' yards, which she believes should be the city's responsibility.

"I was a little upset because I think we could have prevented it and made this tree healthy," she said. "For the people who have a tree on their own property, inspection would be a great thing to have," she said.

Palo Alto City Councilmember Greg Tanaka agrees the city should take a more proactive approach and thinks the heritage tree ordinance should be more flexible in situations like Dempsey's.

"I do think there needs to be some adaptation to the ordinance," he said.

Last year, the City Council significantly expanded the types of trees that are classified as "heritage." Residents are still responsible for paying for inspections of those trees on private property. But they can’t do preventative trimmings without a city-approved permit.

"Really we should have flexibility with staff interpretation of the ordinance so that when we have these really bad cases, we can deal with it," Tanaka said.

There is no upcoming City Council agenda item related to the heritage tree ordinance, but Tanaka says he plans to bring it up for discussion soon.

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