This is a treehugger post of a different species. Instead of celebrating our amazing City of Trees foliage as usual, we are left to decide what is the right price to cut down a mature tree. The new ordinance is still in progress as the DJ notes
The updated draft ordinance would include increased replacement standards, according to the staff report, as well as the incentivization of native tree planting. The city has yet to finalize a fee schedule for in-lieu fee amounts for those who do not replace removed trees, Richard Holz, parks superintendent and city arborist said, but similar fees in Sacramento are set to $325 per one inch of Diameter Standard Height of tree removed.
Those relatively high fees would cover the cost of staff time and effort to plant trees elsewhere in the city. “It’s not meant to be punitive, this is just what the actual cost would be for our staff to establish a tree somewhere else, if you are not going to comply with the ordinance and plant a tree on your own property,” he said.
I don't think paying less than $4,000 to cut down a one-foot diameter tree and not "replacing" it is a "relatively high fee" at all. In fact, I would like to see it be double that since I doubt $4K covers nearly all the costs of having city staff source it, transport it, plant it and track all this work just to get a 24' or 36" box tree somewhere else that doesn't replace a one to four foot wide mature tree. And of course, one of the driving forces behind this is Sacramental authoritarianism as discussed
In previous conversations, councilmembers discussed the city’s limited ability to deny tree removals for projects like accessory dwelling units or Senate Bill 9 housing, which have state-mandated zoning requirements.
Crank up the density and cut down the neighborhood trees–remind me again about how important net-zero carbon emissions and carbon capture are.
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