damaged, so they will be removed. for 701 lombard, there is an inherent conflict of interest. the project planner work under the department of public works director. he is the one who signed the order to demolish the trees. in december 2010, dpw urban forester reported the three ficus trees did not warrant removal. we are requesting a fair, independent public process to evaluate the trees in compliance with the urban forestry ordinance in article 16 of the public works code. the order needs to be overturned, otherwise, this president would allow all mature trees to be removed -- precedent

would allow all mature trees to be removed for convenience. president hwang: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners, members of the public. i'm the program manager for the branch library improvement program. i will focus on the library project. i will be placing several slides

on the overhead projector. this one is the master plan. as background, the new north beach library and playground had been the subject of an extensive process. it began to thousand eight in order to create a cohesive for this portion of north beach. it began in 2008 in order to create a cohesive portion for nothis next slide shows the overall site plan showing the existing condition and the proposed trees to be removed. there are a total of five trees, 2 that are uaopposed.

the next slide will show the site plan showing the proposed new library. and trees. as a result, of the extensive outreach involving public meetings and hearings since 2003, both the project and a master plan have been reviewing all these aspects in great detail by various agencies and groups and has received overwhelming support from the community. the project -- it has undergone a two-year eir process. the ceqa findings were adopted by the planning commission in april of 2011. both the eir and ceqa findings were upheld. the landscape plan that you see

was developed in conjunction with the recreation and park department and the department of public works. i would like to address the point on trees. in continuing the tree line on columbus avenue, but with a different species, the library project seeks to clearly mark the presence of a new library. the overall master plan project of the new library and park will lead to many more new trees. resulting in a significant gain in the green space for the entire neighborhood. i would like to address the issue of the new address for the new library. since the new library would have the main entrance on columbus avenue, the address is 850 columbus. there is no entry on lombard

street. this next slide will show the new library exterior elevation on columbus. this is the last appeal for a permit to this project. all the other required permits for the new library are already in place. it is in the city's interest to have all the permits ready to minimize delays down the line. petraeus we removed as part of the construction process -- the trees we removed as part of the construction process. the new library project is ready to start construction in the summer of 2012 independently of the lawsuit. further delays do not serve the public interest and would result in implications for the city.

as permit holder, dpw would like to respectfully request the board to uphold with no new conditions. we will now address the issues specifically to the trees. >> thank you. carl ashort, urban forester. this slide shows some of the issues that are -- some of the factors with the ficus trees. all the trees have sustained some limb loss. these problems are typical to the species. it makes them prone to losing large limbs. two of the three have sustained some major root loss.

significant trees are tree is located on private property, or on a dpw-owned property. they must meet any one of three sides criteria. street trees are in the trees located in the public right of way. all street trees are protected. the protection is not different between street trees and significant trees. the code requires that the director look specifically at seven criteria when approving the removal of significant trees. street trees, that is not called up for street trees. this is a very common mistake. the real problem with preservation of the trees is that it is very hard to protect trees during construction. in this case, the necessary -- regardless of how careful the

project is, the necessary impacts to the trees would be significant. this slide in sharing the footprint of the building. we can go to the next one. the next slide is showing the necessary infrastructure that would be installed adjacent to the trees that or result in a very large impact to the canopy of the trees. there is substantial removal of groups of the tree as they need to excavate to the property line, and probably a little bit further. president hwang: i do not understand that last slide. >> this is a schematic, but in showing that the building is being billed out to the property line. -- built out to the property line. this is clear the building would be relative to the tree.

president hwang: what about the [inaudible] >> they will need to excavate all the way out to the property line. a little bit under the sidewalk in order to reform that foundation. but many trees, the root system extends far beyond just the canopy of the trees. my concern is that with the construction, there would be substantial en route loss adjacent to the property side of these trees -- root loss adjacent to the property side of these trees. the vertical line is representing the building. can you put a slide back? thank you. that is just showing the height. president hwang: the building is going to go there. what would happen to those

branches on that side of the tree? >> i ran out of time. the next slide is showing the amount of the tree that needed to be removed. president hwang: can live like that? >> that has been done over time. removing half a canopy all at once would put the tree under tremendous stress. it is hard to predict whether the tree would survive or not. it is very possible it would kill the tree. >> can you talk about timing? the eir is being challenged. when is the plan to begin construction and removal of these trees? >> all the approvals have been in place for us to start construction. we usually start with removing the trees as part of the demolition process.

>> will you wait until the eir appeal is completed? will you do that with the eir appeal and outstanding and being litigated? >> at this point, the project is moving forward because all the approvals are in place. the eir is a legal challenge that will take its own course. >> i have been involved in projects where there is an eir appeal. typically, there is a risk that the lawsuit comes back and says something about recirculating the eir. i know that generally does not happen. dpw is going to take that risk and start construction of the project? >> obviously, we are moving very cautiously forward. the hearing was on june 7. the determination from the judge is pending. >> was there a state of any sort?

>> there was no stay. >> was it requested? >> that i am not aware of. >> is the removal of these trees part of the construction contract? >> yes. >> will give giving notice to proceed to the contract, it will be to demolish these trees as well? >> that is correct. >> the appellant stated july 16. what is july 16? >> i am not certain as to where the appellant got the information from. >> thank you. >> i totally appreciate the fact that we are moving the project forward. we have obtained all the approvals, including the eir.

the project is poised to move forward, so it is the city's decision as to when it is prudent to move forward. >> do you know when that will be? any estimate on when that will be? are you still considering that based on the lawsuit? >> we're still considering a lawsuit, yes. >> thank you. we can take public comment on this item. can i see a show of hands? ok, wonderful. whoever wants to start, you can step forward. if you would not mind lineup on the far wall. it would be great. we would like to move this forward as quickly as possible. if you have not already filled out a speaker cards and you are inclined to do so, it will help us in the preparation of our minutes.

>> my name is zack stewart. >> one second -- how many minutes? >> 3 minutes per person. >> i flunked the architectural exam the first time i ticket. because i put the building on top of some trees. i am an architect and a landscape architect and a general contractor. all the foresters have always made me save the trees. saving trees -- there are a lot of ways to do. i think i would have rather been a truck driver driving one of those big semis to deliver the

palm trees to the embarcadero. the embarcadero needed big trees to make it work as a great avenue. so does columbus avenue. the amount -- it is really interesting to watch the big trees being delivered. obviously, you can take these trees, which are not that big, set them in the parking area, put them back after construction. or you can just manage the trees, as i have been forced to do by many foresters, to keep them alive. my 50 years' experience in this is that it is not a good idea to have all those millions of people that are riding cable cars when we are supposed to be

a green city. president hwang: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i am an arborist. i worked in the area for 43 years. every kind of tree, many of the department' before going into my own business. the things that are being described as not so good about these trees could be said for any of this tree. if we took out these for the structural problems, we should remove almost all of our street trees. they have not had the budget to be able to maintain them to the ideals standards. ironically, it is for privately owned trees, i do not think dpw will let people remove them for the same reasons. they would say, sorry, you have

to do a tree protection plan. it can be managed. there were buildings here before. the root system may not be as advanced as -- the best thing to do good to be an exploratory trench along the proposed construction is down and find out where those routes -- roots are. if they are not massive, the tree could be flat and on both sides. these are trees that evolved with hurricanes. that is why they are so forgiving. if the roots can be retained, i think the trees could be retained. those lovely trees that are being proposed are going to take decades to have the same impact. thank you. president hwang: next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon, board of appeals. i am here to try to save three of the five trees. the smaller ones are not so dear to my heart. i have lived a block and a half away from this parcel for 46.5 years. i am very close to it. houston street. my first knowledge of what was happening on 701 at lombard street, they keep calling it 800 columbus and 850 columbus. some of us think that is a way to confuse the public. this has been 701 lombard street since 2003. the city pay for it with open space funds and have planned for years to have a park there. that is not what we're here

about. a friend of mine notice on march 12, 10 days after the three trees for posted, this is kind of significant. the library wanted five trees taken out. miss short denied two of them. we knew nothing about it. we just knew that three were posted. apparently, the labeling came off of the picus' -- off of the ficus. we appealed with three trees. they appealed the two trees they had been denied. the appeals got mixed up. there were both occurred on the same day, but the real focus was on what the library wanted. the judge was an employee of dpw and then he turned over his notes. it bothers me a little bit bad

dpw chief was asked to judge his employees, but i'm not going to pursue that. there is an urban forestry ordinance. article 16 of the public-works code and it defines what significant trees are and what street trees all are. the ficus trees i am fighting for, they fall into both categories. there is some very clear definitions of it. breast height in excess of 12 inches, the height in excess of 20 feet. they definitely qualify for that. it also says that interested organizations have to be notified. i am a founding member of two of the organizations and the registered them with the city. coalition for a better north beach library. we were not notified. there is a handwritten list in the brief that shows some names.

my name and my daughter's name. we were not notified about the trees. we were just notified that our appeal was going to be heard. i hope you'll consider this, thank you. president hwang: do you care to state your name for the record? >> i am sorry, joan wood. >> i am a native of north beach. many people in the neighborhood have been very attached to the trees for a long time. the pattern of street trees on lombard shows this alignment along the entire lombard street. you'll see the pictures of the alignment on columbus avenue. these are all trees about the same age. size, height, all very significant.

the appellants have requested a stay. the city declined to accept that. in public records request, we found e-mails between the city departments designed to remove the trees as early as april. that, i think, will be presented to you later in the regatta. -- rebuttal. we understand the city's desire to move ahead, but the litigation proceill in the works. the hearing was held, there is a decision pending. after decisions, litigation may continue, we do not know what

the outcome of the hearing will be. the public records request that we have received over the last years have also uncovered some interesting information. unlike other projects, like 1190 mission or swinerton's project, they do not have the same opportunities as this project. dpw's project manager for the library project can talk to the dpw director or they can coordinate between the urban forestry department agency and the project architects. that will be shown in a selection of e-mails that we found recently to public records request. throughout the course of the project, there have been

changing assessments of the conditions of the trees. they were based on internal prodding of their own departmental people. in 2010, the department of urban forester reported that the three ficuses did not want removal. in february 2012, the urban forest inspector said one tree could be saved. and there have been changes since. given the litigation -- frankly, it's is given the condition and the significance of the trees, the dpw order needs to be overturned so that the process can be a fair and independent one. following the codes and ordinances. president hwang: next speaker, please.

>> good evening. i'm a 25-year resident of north beach. my visual aid today is my son, frankie. here is the t-shirt he was wearing when this project started. he was 04 years old. in the last 10 years, i have attended nearly every meeting about the new library. meetings at the library, meetings at the pool, meetings at the clubhouse, meetings at a church, meeting set a school, meetings in this building. i have felt very well-informed about the process the entire 10 removal, i want to assure you, as part of the great library project, is not a problem and not a surprise to many of us in north beach. those of us in the neighborhood

who use the library, who use the pool, and you have children reduce the same facilities, know that trees near the pool have been replaced before. trees grow again. i feel, after our tend your request, residents are really excited and welcoming of the -- after our 10-your request, residents are really excited and welcoming of the new library. thank you. president hwang: next speaker, please. >> i am in north beach property owner. my wife and i moved to north beach in 1992 right after we got married. we love don taylor and columbus, i could look out my window and see -- we lived on taylor and columbus, i could look out my

window and see those trees. recently, one of my neighbors did some construction. i like your plans, but there is a tree, could you please keep that tree? i am looking at the plan, looking at the library, looking at the park. it looks like we will lose three trees, maybe five. i am still a little confused. i have two kids, born in north beach. all these little details, whatever, let's does have a really nice park, green grass, more trees. anyway, thank you. president hwang: next speaker, please. >> hello. know what is going to come here and say they are against trees. -- nobody is going to come here

and say they are against trees. this is another veiled attempt to stop the construction of the new library. i am a mom and we have grown up in north beach and have used the dilapidated library. we're looking forward to a brand new library. we also remember that last year, one of the trees next to a north beach pool fell down during a large wind storm and hit a car. i believe there is an arborist report that says three of the trees are highly compromised and need to be removed. thank you very much. president hwang: thank you. next speaker. >> my name is elizabeth do you. i have lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. my son refused to come here tonight. orlando, they are not doing their job.

this is the second time i have spoke in favor of the fact that we will get a better library. we cannot wait to have those wonderful things in our neighborhood. my son may be married by the time it gets here. thank you very much. president hwang: next speaker, please. >> i have planted almost 400 trees in north beach over 300 of them street trees. i am asking you to uphold the permit. i am trying to figure out ms. easton's point of view. she obviously thinks she knows better than the planning commission. better than the board of supervisors, better than the mayor's office, it betterthose h beach, better than those of us who have been working on this