Loading...
Staff Report with attachments Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Community Development Director and Parks and Public Works Director 110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832 www.losgatosca.gov TOWN OF LOS GATOS COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: 04/19/2022 ITEM NO: 13 DATE: April 12, 2022 TO: Mayor and Town Council FROM: Robert Schultz, Town Attorney SUBJECT: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 29 of the Los Gatos Town Code Regulating Tree Protection RECOMMENDATION: Accept public comment then move for the introduction and first reading of an Ordinance (Attachment 1), by title only, amending Chapter 29 of the Los Gatos Town Code regulating Tree Protection. BACKGROUND: On June 2, 2015, the Town Council adopted Ordinance 2240, the Tree Protection Ordinance. The intent of the Tree Protection Ordinance is to regulate the removal of trees within the Town to retain as many trees as possible consistent with the purpose of the Ordinance and the reasonable use of private property. The provisions of the Ordinance require that anyone seeking to remove or prune a Protected Tree, as defined in the Ordinance, must obtain a permit. The Ordinance outlines review criteria to be applied to applications for Tree Removal. The Ordinance also includes a penalty section for violations of the Tree Protection Ordinance. DISCUSSION: The Tree Protection Ordinance has been in place for over six years and has played a role in maintaining the wooded environment of the Town. Based on staff’s experience in implementing the tree ordinance and processing tree removal permit applications, staff proposes minor revisions to the ordinance to provide clarity within the chapter related primarily to fines and penalties. On March 23, 2022, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the draft revisions to the Tree Protection Ordiance and made additional modfications after hearing public comment and PAGE 2 OF 2 SUBJECT: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 29 of the Los Gatos Town Code Regulating Tree Protection. DATE: April 12, 2022 DISCUSSION (continued): dilberating on the draft Ordiance. The proposed modifications by the Planning Commsision have been incorporated into the proposed code revisions as redlined in Attachment 1. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that the Town Council move for the introduction and first reading of an Ordinance (Attachment 1), by title only, amending Chapter 29 of the Los Gatos Town Code regulating Tree Protection. COORDINATION: This report was coordinated with the Town Manager’s Office. FISCAL IMPACT: There will be no fiscal impact to the Town at this time. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required. Attachment: 1. Draft Ordinance 2. Public comments received before 11am on April 14 ATTACHMENT 2 To: Town Council, meeting of April 19, 2022 From: Dave Weissman Re: Tree Protection Ordinance (TPO) revisions I would like to address several concerns raised by various Planning Commissioners at their meeting of March 23, 2022. All of these concerns have either been incorporated into the latest version of the TPO prepared by Staff, or are addressed in this letter. 1. Commissioner Tavana wanted to know why the TPO was being revised at this time. The simple reason is that 2 recent experiences, one with the Davidon project in the Highlands of Los Gatos and the other with 16100 Greenridge Terrace (GRT), showed the inability of the TPO to provide adequate penalties to deter future violations. In other words, the punishment wasn’t commensurate with the crime. The latter situation of GRT is particularly illustrative where 17 protected trees suffered a number of TPO violations (Code Compliance Violation No. VL-19-561) but the owner was fined a grand total of $300. So insignificant was this fine that similar violations (Code Compliance Violation No. VL-21-084) occurred on the same property 1 year later. 2. Some Commissioners were concerned about the distinction between trees “damaged” versus trees “removed”. This is actually a continuum with much overlap. For instance, what may start out as a mechanical injury (i.e., damage) to a tree, can over time (months to years) turn into a removal of that tree if the damage caused by the mechanical injury results in a fungal infection entering the tree and killing it. This possibility was discussed by previous Town Consulting Arborist Debra Ellis for several mechanical injury violations on the Highlands of Los Gatos. 3. Several Commissioners spoke about the need for community outreach, after the TPO is revised, so that folks are aware of these new changes. This is always a good idea. Nevertheless, I was surprised to be told by Gitta Ungvari, Town Finance and Budget Manager, that while most gardeners working in Los Gatos have a Service License and some landscapers require a CA State Contractor License, none of them are routinely given a copy of the Town's most current Tree Protection Ordinance when they acquire/pay for their licenses. This oversight should obviously be changed, especially since these tree maintenance businesses can now suffer consequences for violating these codes. Additionally, any person coming into the Planning Dept and inquiring about building a home in Town, especially in the hillsides, should also be given such information, or at least a link to the latest version of the TPO. 4. Some Commissioners were concerned about the new TPO option of criminal charges and imprisonment. Having this provision in the TPO, even if rarely or never used, will hopefully provide a certain amount of hesitancy to landowners pondering possible future violations. 5. Does the Town go after the property owner or tree company for TPO violations? The Town’s past policy has been to levy fines against the violating property owner. But for those rare situations of major, deliberate, possibly repeat TPO violations, or where the relationship between the violating business and property owner may be obscure, or unknown, this ATTACHMENT 2 provision is needed to help decrease these violations. Ignorance of the law is still no excuse, and shouldn’t be used to get the violating business free of responsibility. And while the property owner may easily be able to pay the fine, and write those costs off as the price of doing business, the business owner may think twice about the potential for their business license being suspended for 1 year. 6. There is no intention, in any of these revisions, of going after the individual home owner who inadvertently commits a minor violation of the TPO (and such language has been added in Sec. 29.10.1025). Rather, these revisions are directed toward the professional tree trimmer or developer, for example as discussed above under #1, where many trees were damaged or removed, excessive pruning occurred, spikes were used to climb trees, etc., all in an effort to increase the value of hillside lots by increasing the visibility of the valley floor below. As Town Attorney Schultz explained to the Planning Commission, these proposed revisions are a means to have ‘extra tools in your box’ to deal with the different situations that may occur down the road.