Talks on trees taking place

June Casagrande

In the face of an impending lawsuit, city officials are trying to

strike some kind of compromise with residents fighting to save 25

ficus trees on Main Street.

City Atty. Bob Burnham said the city is in mediation with a group

that filed a lawsuit on July 8 to stop the city from uprooting the

trees. Ultimately, talks might mean that some or all of the trees

could stay. But such details on the pending legal action could not be

made public.

The trees have been the subject of a growing debate that in recent

weeks has created a circus-like atmosphere in council chambers.

Though dozens of residents have leveled pleas toward the dais to save

the 40-year-old trees, others, many of them Main Street merchants,

have been just as passionate in saying the trees should be removed.

They say, and council members affirmed with a 3-2 vote in May, that

the trees’ roots simply cause more damage than they’re worth. Sewer

lines, sidewalks and even some building foundations are damaged from

the ficus’ sprawling roots, they say.

Others urge that the trees are just too special to yank out,

especially because some of them are designated as protected trees

under the city’s own codes. This designation is a basis of the

lawsuit against the city by the Newport Arbor Society, led by Jan

Vandersloot. The arbor society argues that the cooling canopy over

Main Street and the ambience created by the trees make it well

worthwhile to find other ways to manage root growth. They advocate

root pruning and possibly installing underground guards to block the

roots from growing in the directions where they could cause the most

damage.

Tree opponents fire back that such measures are not only costly

and impractical, but that they don’t solve the problem in the long

term.

“We’ve been talking with city staff trying to develop a win-win

solution,” Vandersloot said. “But we’re not there yet.”

The clock is ticking. The trees are scheduled to be removed

sometime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 15. The second phase of Balboa

Village improvements are hinged on having the trees removed by that

date. Any significant delay could threaten the city’s deadline for

completing the improvements by the spring.