so i would lean more towards getting rid of all of them. >> i'm the one who always allows it. >> okay. >> motion, madam president? >> i'll move to grant the appeal and allow the removal of the trees on the basis that it is more suitable to the neighborhood and there's justification for removing them. >> are we going to have a condition in regards to replacement? >> yes, maybe we need some help in terms of that in size. >> have they discussed what thiep of tree they'd like to replace it with? >> they did say their desire to replant with a more traditional street tree,

either evergreen or something that's more what you think of when you think of a street tree so they stated that on their application. in terms of replacement size our bear minimum that we require if someone voluntarily wants to plant a tree is a 15 gallon tree, the next size up, which is a very basic modest increase would be a 24 inch box size tree. certainly at a minimum i would say approval with a single 24 inch box tree at a bear minimum would be recommended. the next step up is a 36 inch box size tree. requires a little bit of a small crane or knuckle boom, actually to plant that. it's a heavy amount of soil in a container. that said, if the palms are going to be relocated there could be equipment that's there to take out existing

palms, maybe a different contractor is planning the replacement. one possibility would be replanting with a 36 inch box tree just to bump up. >> give an idea from a very basic to a 36, how long of a timeframe of general maintenance would that be? >> a couple years growth so not a very significant difference between a 24 and 36 inch box treez. >> on a recent project here in the city one of your inspectors indicated that was the standard now. >> 26 inch is now the standard for all planning code for new driveways so 24 inch box is a minimum. >> i'm prepared to propose a

24 inch box replacement. >> you okay with that? >> to be determined by the department? >> i like that. gl so we have a motion then.result are you ready for that? great. >> giving the dpw the ultimate say on the species, correct? >> yes.

as mr. buck would argue or mark merced would argue, it withstood three different storms over the past seven days, didn't fall, not one branch fell. i would like to hear mr. buck tonight provide some evidence that there was property damage or human injury from this tree. he can want provide any reports pause there are none. the tree is healthy, he claims that there's decay in the tree. there's very little decay in the tree. he'll probably show you pictures that there is, but there isn't. the argument is nonsensical. the owners of park merced

claim they're going to replace this tree, along with another one that we don't have a picture here with a redwood tree and as you know, redwood trees can grow several hundred feet has maintained they dend to replace every tree that they remove and we have evidence to the contrary that they have not been doing this. i was here a year ago arguing on behalf of the trees parkwood way. they never came up with a plan to replace those 200 dree

trees that they cross cutted so please don't mrooef believe anything that is put forward by park merced or its contractor who i believe behave as mercenaries when it comes to tree removal. it's all about business and money. another argument i want to make here is mr. buck and bureau of urban forestry have yet to put forth any evidence that they have conducted a bio diversity report on this tree or any other one. this tree is a home to a number of birds that live in park merced. they haven't performed their due diligence in providing you, me or the public a bio diversity report as to the significance of this tree and the habitat it provides to

these birds. another argument that i would make is that the option in h the event that mr. buck and the department of bureau of urban forest tree believe this tree poses a risk to the public, they haven't provided an option of cabling the tree if they think it's going to fall. there's nothing in his arguments that pose that solution, that the tree can be cabled. finally, commissioners, this block is slated to be torn down within ten years, if you believe par merced's demolition schedule. why not leave the tree standing? there's no evidence that it poses a risk to the public. let it stand, let it live its life out in park merced until the wrecking crews come. i'll leave it at that and let you hear from mr. buck and

then any here member of the public. thank you. >> is there someone here from arbor well? anyone here for the permit holder? no? okay, mr. buck then, let's hear from you. >> good evening commissioners, chris buck, with urban forestry. go to overhead. we received an application in april for the removal of two trees, one -- we actually received an application from the applicant for the removal of this tree, it was one tree, the tree that broke in half. while they were on site we

noticed they had a dead tree in the front yard setback area and we brought that to their attention that it requires permit. so the application to remove one treel turned ed into an application to remove two trees, the street tree on the left and the one on the right in this photo. the public right of way is approximately designated in the red line. everything to the left of this image is in the right of way. the property line is approximately where this red line is located so the olive tree is within 10 feet and would require a permit in order for park merced to remove that tree. the tree on private property the significant tree is dead and if the tree was larger we would have posted a 15 day emergency notice on it notice of hazard to expedite the

removal of the tree. the 15 day notice allows the department and property owner to remove the tree in a more expeditious manner so that hazard can be addressed. typically that's what we do, but again, the tree's not that large so the relative hazard based on the smaller size of the tree was not present and knowing that we get a lot of protests and want to be consistent we did a 30 day notice on a dead tree. the street tree shown -- i have another photo we received a call from arbor well and merced the day after it split in half. the tree had two main stems and a significant amount of decay present in the stem that failed and a significant amount of decay present in the remaining stem. the existing stem of the tree is full of decay.

a lot of the main stem of the tree is completely decayed including the fact that the entire stem is opened up so you don't have a single column where you might have a hollow. trees can remain strong and intact where you have a pure cylinder when you don't have a breech but when you take ail way the wall of the outer tree. this was a very straightforward and easy decision on our part one of the easier decisions i've had all yeerl for tree removal. extensive amount of decay. very easy from our perspective. we ask you up hold our permit to approve the removal of both trees. our recommendation is that they be replanted with 24 inch box size replacement trees. >> is that a requirement then

that it be replaced? >> it is a requirement so the san francisco or urban forestry ordinance, article 16 of the pub hick works code and that requires that ever street tree and sigz nif tree be replanted within six months after the permit's issued. >> are you able to monitor that to see if it happens. >> well do. we don't have the staffing to check every individual permit that we've issued. fortunately in san francisco we have depend on the public quite a bit to let us know. they'll call into 311 and say it's been a few months, i don't see a replacement tree so we follow up. there is enforcement. it's not i ron clad sometimes it takes a call into us to see if the property owner has been lagging behind a little bit but we have a mechanism of enforcement and we will fine the property owner if they fail to replant the required replacementment tree. >> how about here?

>> in this particular case, park merced, a little pit bit of background from my perspective, i was with the department in 2005 evaluating all removal applications for two years. never once received and application from park merced. in 2007 they were removing trees? juan circle which was the first time this ever came to the department's attention that park merced didn't realize they needed permits in order to remove a significant tree so they haven't been on our radar since 2007. no one ever called in a complaint so we've been looking at a lot of sites and earlier this year we issued a fine to park merced for the removal of a number of trees on gonzalez drive and it's currently pending. we're currently scheduling an

administrative hearing for them to address that. we are going to systematically go through every street in park merced. we've let them knoll that. know that. we expect them to replant all trees and that's where we're currently embarked upon. >> that was along the same lines -- are you finished? >> yes. >> park merced has been before this board several times in recent years and if they've knocked all these trees down and not replaced them. right now you find them -- >> it is penldzing. pending. they have written an appeal. some of the trees we feel they haven't replanted they feel they have remrapted. . ed planted. there's a number of trooes that have been removed and pretty much didn't require a

permit to remove. some of these we can address and some are beyond our jurisdiction. >> arbor well hasn't showed up to this body the last couple times they've been before us. >> i don't know if i've notified them that this is going to board of appeals, but i'm assuming that as the applicant they're notified it's a occurring. it's a thought i've had, but i believe on the announcement that we're all notified that the matter is going before the commission that they be notified. >> well always call the permit holders to speak to them directly when an appeal is filed. >> your recommendation for replacement would be -- >> 24 inch box size trees. there's no development here currently. i believe the applicant is going through the due process

to remove and replace his trees. >> thank you. >> any public comment? okay. the president has indicated two minutes for public comment given the length of calendar and number of people here tonight. >> i actually did spend about 80 hours of my own time doing a reconciliation of the science report and sent john hawkins a template with identified trees that had been illegally removed, add not been replanted, are blocking signs and whatnot. just for the one street of gonzalez. there's several trees in park merced and trees are going like hot cakes these days. this has been an ongoing problem.

i did recently, yesterday or today, i just got information requested over a year ago, specifically the letter from chris buck does say that due to

arbor well and park merced applying for applications when removing trees that require permits so in my assessment there's been a lot of

improvements in 007. we're actively working with them to make shurl they ref plant all required street trees. regarding accident reports or injuries or property damage, we don't manage the urban forest and wait for someone to be hurt before we make a decision to remove a tree. that's not a sound management practice so we don't expect someone to be hurt by a dead tree that's full of decay. when trees fail obviously attorneys circle. they hire arborists and they're going to evaluate the tree and say should someone have known that this tree might fail. when it's full of decay, yes, absolutely. has park merced made some mistakes, should they be here this evening? absolutely. but this application and permit should be issued to the property owner. trees haven't been filled

with cement in decades. there's nothing to cable a tree to you need another stem to cable a tree. we're not going to put a cable attaching it to any other pole, street light, street pole or in the ground so in our estimation as arborists in this great city, this country we love to work here in san francisco and fight for our trees. the tree's full of decay, it should be removed and that's it. thank you. >> what is the significance of the decay. does it con con it's going to fail at any point? >> it does. decay in that point in the tree has no holding capability. the amount of wood they create is redundant. they don't need it all. you look at a helen keller

tree in germany with a lot of decay throughout it, those are extraordinary circumstances. street trees and cities are very active urban environments and they hooer not museums. we have people coming and going, we have trucks, we have to keep a safe right of way. the significance of decay is that decayed wood has no strength holding capacity and if there's too much decay it hold itself up. the tree split in after and it could have been the remaining section that split, it happens it was the other section that split so did it survive the last storms? yes. did the section that failed earlier in the year fail in a rainstorm? probably not. it could have been a calm quiet, sunny day. nature and trees