accommodating and with this we have a closing prayer. this will go on to 8:00 o'clock but we want god's blessing on this park and now to forever only things happen to you. we ask you for your spirit here and god rebuke all violence and evil from this area. we pray in the name jesus. we know you can do it. have grace and amen. thank you very much. [applause]

>> good afternoon. welcome to the september 10, 2014, meeting of the san francisco board of

appeals. the proceeding officer it commissioner president lazarus and she's join by commissioner hurtado and commissioner fung and commissioner honda one asset vacant on the board this evening and pursuant pursuant to the charter when a vacancy the board may overrule it by 3 members four votes are not required to my left is the deputy director and at the controls is the legals assistant i'm cynthia goldstein the boards executive director we're joined by the representatives that have matter before the board and shortly we'll be joined by scott sanchez and we have joseph duffey representing the department of building inspection and i believe we'll be joined by patrick from the department of

building inspection and we have chris the department of public works and your honor, fory we may be joined by another representative of dpw for the evasion permit on appeal mr. pacheco please go over the boards guidelines and conduct the swearing in. the board requests you turn off all electronic devices the appellant and permit holder see has 7 minutes to present their cases and people physical evidence with those parties must include their comments within the 7 manipulates and members of the public that are not affiliated with the party have up to 3 minutes to address the board to assist the board in the accurate preparation of minutes members of the public are asked to the required to submit a business card when you come up

to the podium speaker cards and pens are available on the left-hand side of the podium there are customer satisfaction survey forms and if you have a question about the board schedules please speak to the board staff or call the board office it is located at 1550 mission street this meeting is broadcast live on sfgovtv cable channel 78 and dvds are available for purchase directly in sfgovtv thank you for your attendance at this point we'll conduct our swearing in process if you intend to testify and wish to have the board give your testimony evidencey wealthy please stand and say i do after

your affirmed any members of the public may speak prurntd to the sunshine ordinance testimony you're about to give will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you >> thank you mr. pacheco so the first item on tonight calendar or calendar is for anyone that wishes to speak on items not on torrents calendar seeing none, item 2 for commissioners questions or comments commissioners. >> just a reminder i'll not be in attendance for next weeks meeting. >> go giants. >> seeing none, we'll move to item 3 the boards consideration of the meeting minutes of august 27th any changes.

>> now a motion to simpleminded. >> so moved. any public comment on the minutes mr. pacheco call the roll please. on that motion from commissioner honda to adapt the august 7, 2014, minutes commissioner fung. commissioner hurtado. commissioner president lazarus. thank you >> the vote is 4 to zero those minutes are adapted. >> thank you item 4 vs. the department of public works urban ban forestry on miramar avenue appealing the try removal permit denial to remove two trees in the medium it's on the hearing we'll start with the appellant you have 7 minutes. >> good afternoon,

commissioners i'm anita harris this is about differing opinions of arresting broadcast i'll be brief the west park association maintains an urban effort n located in the park westward park choose to replace those trees this man was highly repeated and served on several san francisco advisor boards he maintained and knew our trees and correcting r correctly appreciated a tree failure after many years to save those trees we now needed to replace them and there have been a number of major limb fairs in this sect after mr. hills untimely death

mr. crawford his association confirmed that and i have communications from 21 residents that live in proximity to those trees they've seen the limb faurz failures and know how dangers they were and their dancers to the residents if there's doubt in our minds and given the history of limb failure we are respectfully request you allow the park association to replace those trees for the piece of mind for our residents our chair is here in the evident you have questions what's entailed with maintaining our wonderful urban effort thank you. >> good afternoon scombldz and commissioners i'm carol i have

owned a home in front of that 6 hundred block trees on miramar for over 35 years i purchased the home loving the pines and unfortunately have seen the replacement of at least two on that have failed i'm urging you to grant the appeal for the replacement i believe that to error on the side of caution is very important the other risk factors if this tree fails we have a light pole and if affecting it could cause an electrical fire that's a greatest risk to thank you for your time. >> hello, i'm nicholas crawford

i'm an arrest warrant above the with the district attorney's office company i'm happy to share a prospective on the trees anita's given background how much they care about their trees one thing to highlight the risk profile of the trees if those were growing in a wooded area the branch failure would be different it wouldn't have a tarlt this is an average evening a lot of activity parked cars and residents utilizing the space it changes our prospective as arborists the failure of the limb failure after it was applied and while they were appealing the removal permit process this is an instance that

happened with the same species of trees this tree as a species tends to form canopies in a heavily concentrated with the wealthy of the branches they have a high center of gravity is it cause stre at the attachment points and pine trees as a family will drop her needles foliage they may congratulate out as the trees age they become a higher and higher risk and in san francisco we have a climate where we have high winds s with severe storms that is a concern here so all those factors we've been pruning them to reduce it

but have gone as far as we can so to take one tree at that time, you can see the tree canopy has been pruned over the years by still a lot of wealthy at the end that's the concern there's not much more to do for the trees from a maintenance prospective and i want to look at the code how it stems with a v shape it's a greater concern because of the bark the stems are growing in diameter. a photo to show there's no foliage on the inside it's out at the tips and just a quick aside this tree was approved for

removal the monterrey pine it is instead of the tree in the background that tree in the for ground actually was approved for removal and the other tree is similar in structure to the first tree we were talking about also have a cluster of branches that are stems pushing against each other and we have put cables although that's not going to do much finally, i want to close with a this slide ass have high-risk quality and the foliage at the end there is not much to do with the pruning and those trees are that have the stems don't give us the strong attachment we'll be looking for >> what's the age of those two

trees? >> you need to have someone speak into the microphone and there are about 60 or 70 years old. >> what's the normal life the species. >> that's pretty much to be expected at maturity healthy trees would live beyond that they can start to have more dead branches and not grow as quickly that's the stage of life right now. >> one of your early slides had trees of different size are they different in age. >> the two we're talking about were planted at exactly the same time the taller tree looks different it's a monterey pine vs. is another pine they're both

pines and one of your slides had shorter trees if the background were those planted later. >> yeah. that's one of the shorter trees it is veneer fondle is one of the stone pines the 60 or 70-year-old tree. >> my question open this medium strip on miramar has b there been other trees removed in the last few years. >> yeah. quite a few of the they've been approaching the trees with high-risk and replacement with the red flowering they want to have large mature trees to maintain that park like atmosphere but the red flowering gums have better attachment point they

have been planting those as they've been replacing the lighting stones. >> thank you. we can hear from the department now. >> good evening, commissioners. want that one - there okay

>> good evening, commissioners chris buck with the department of public works urban forestry we received an application in miramar excuse me. westwood park association for that 3 trees removal and one of the 3 trees the department of public works urban forty park it's a pine the stems on this tree were co- dominate with the bark in species is prone to insects and pests and bark beetles didn't show signs of pitch can core but holes show the beetle activity we posted this for removal without protest the italian

stone park trees that was denial it was approved and a dpw hearing and the hoff upholds the staffs denial of the two italian stone pines. both the lighting stone pines are well maintained they have been cabled cabling is some people are advocates for cabling others feel like it's a sign there's something wrong with the stre tree so there's professional and disagreements after over little cabling it didn't mean the tree is insave but it provides the managers of trees you're trying to maintain them so long as possible into trees have the presence of candles the first tree on the 6 hundred block adjacent to 6

hundred 64 miramar avenue it's an italian stone pine with missile multiple co- dominant tree stems they would be fighting for life in a forest where in the open they produce many lateral branches that are competing for light it's difficult if you're diligent about pruning those less prone to possible large limb failures i'll see that westwood park has done a good job in being responsible for the trees in the way that public works is it is championing and stressful to challenge balance the structure with insuring a certain level of pedestrian safety it's a very is

challenging job with that said we felt at the staff and department level the trees didn't have a level of defects we would like to see when we approve a tree for removal the trees do have co- dominant layers they're known for large limb failure those trees may not be safe they have a high-level of failure those trees have been well maintained to approve a tree we want to see decases or cracks within the trees the trees are at maturity that's true something to consider subject tree the second tree has two main stems again main stems

that are tightly attached can't allow into stems to grow they push against each other and the bark pushed out between them that's included bark it's difficult to estimate when a tree may fail you can identify what the part that are likely to fail but difficulty difficult to say when the tree fails they have good vigor. just to conclude i'll say that at the staff and departmental level we didn't see enough wrong with the trees to deny the trees there are maintenance challenges with got italian stone pine trees that said when a large tree is removed you can't get

the canopy back for another 20 years we appreciate the work with west wood association has done and my first notice was in 1987 there's a personal side we respe respectly recommended the removal of the trees be denied at the staff and departmental level >> just to clarify when you say those trees are at maturity do you concur with the appellants over and over both the when is the life of the trees. >> sure to clarify by maturity i'd say their mature their soon to be sloan a little bit the vigor of the trees are very good

they're continuing to put out foliage they're at the maturity but maturity for a tree could mean a couple of decades or more. the monterey pine tree was getting closer to developing problems the two italian stone pines are at maturity but not showing signs of decline or decreased vigor >> for the tree that is going to be demolished the replacement is your typical 36 inch box it's a 24 inch tree. >> i think i read under some type of a gum. >> many of the replacement trees along miramar avenue have been red flowing gum which is a large is it your tree. >> is that what we call a fast or slow growing tree.

>> mreemd to fast growing tree appropriate for the location when we have recently planted some on giving me vera boulevard westwood park has been good about replanting trees for removal. >> another question driving over the street for the last thirty or 40 years i've noticed that the road was disturbed quite a bit now nice and smooth does that effect the growth of the tree when the root structure has been all the evidence. >> the route road repair can have an impact on the root system of the trees so for amazing they've shown vigor despite the road repairs nothing that did i stables this tree but

you're right there's a few trees here and there that have 3wub8gd the sidewalks the two subject trees is relating free of infrastructure conflicts like that. >> i noticeed over the years it was bumpy road that leaves me to building that some root structure was taken away during the maintenance of the road. >> if it was quite bumpy than a lot of roots were pruned out to make the repairs. >> i have a couple of questions does the city provide resources at all maintaining trees or is that privately. >> this is privately maintained i'll point out this is an unusual setting many are maintained by the department of public works that's why i take care of to point out that

westwood park has been good stewards of the trees they're seeking removals every year too when needed but we don't offer services or resources unfortunately similar to the way street trees are maintained by the adjacent property owners my sense when the area was developed if the medium was create they would be maintained by westwood park. >> does westwood assume the liability. >> the liability is with westwood park. >> does something shall happen if the roots fail. >> yes. dpw to a certain decree or the city has some other responsibility to maintain a safe public roughly u right of way but the most current