The Seal Beach City Tree Advisory Board last met on Sept. 15, 2018, according to Assistant City Manager Patrick Gallegos. The tree board is scheduled to meet Sept. 7, 2022.
Some council members have expressed support for the tree board. So has a member of the Planning Commission. Another is willing to review the need for the board, but sees no urgency in the matter. (For details, see below.)
“The City Council creates boards/committees/commissions at its discretion. See City Charter Section VIII (Appointive Boards and Commissions),” Gallegos wrote in an Aug. 25 email.
There are seven seats on the current tree board. The District Five seat is currently vacant and has been since April 3, 2018. Districts One and Two are each represented by a single board member. Districts three and four aren’t each represented by two board members are each. The newest board member, Mario Voce, was appointed by Councilwoman Shelly Sustarsic in February 2022. There are no term limits for the tree advisory board.
Background
“The Tree Committee is an advisory committee to the City Council, established by resolution of the City Council in 1996. As you can see in the attached resolution, there is no residency requirement for this committee,” wrote City Attorney Craig Steele in a February email.
“It appears to me that over the years individual Councilmembers have made appointments to the Committee, but members of this Committee are not required to live in the district of the Councilmember who makes the appointment. This Committee is very specialized, and its membership is appropriately focused more on experience and interest in the urban forest issue than residency. You’ll note that there are more than 5 members,” Steele wrote at that time.
“The Planning Commission and Parks and Rec commission are established by ordinance and, under the City Charter, each CC member appoints a member from his or her district,” Steele wrote on Aug. 26.
“The role of an advisory board is to provide input to the Council – it is a means of public participation. Advisory boards and staff can work in cooperation for the greater good of the community. The primary function of the Tree Advisory Board is to review residents’ requests for tree removals. More generally, the Board is comprised of citizens that may have technical/professional expertise with an interest in tree preservation,” wrote Assistant City Manager Gallegos last week.
Seal Beach has several commissions/committees.
“A Planning Commission is optional under the State’s planning and zoning law, but not required. The Environmental Quality Control Board and Archeological Committee were created by the City and not required by the State,” wrote Gallegos.
Seal Beach also has an ad hoc Coyote Committee, a Cable Communications Foundation, a Historic Preservation Committee (not to be confused with the recently created and independent, non-profit Seal Beach Historical Resources Foundation).
The Sun on Friday, Aug. 26, asked Gallegos:
“Who makes the decision that a commission or committee meeting should be cancelled due to a lack of sufficient business? Staff? The city manager? A commission or committee chair? Is the protocol the same for all commissions?
“Has the fact the City Tree Advisory Board hasn’t met since September 2018 impacted staff’s ability to address tree-related issues?”
The Sun received no reply as of editorial deadline. Note that city staff was preparing for a special (and unrelated) council meeting set for Monday. Aug. 29.
According to both Gallegos and District One Councilman/ Mayor Joe Kalmick, Seal Beach has an arborist on staff.
Comments
The Sun on Aug. 26 emailed the council and asked:
Does the city need a commission that hasn’t met in almost four years?
Is it time for the council to reevaluate its current list of commissions?
District Four Councilwoman Sustarsic supports the tree board.
“The city did eliminate a few committees that were no longer relevant a couple of years ago. However, I believe that eliminating a committee just because there has not been business to meet is not wise. Some of these committees function on an as-needed basis and the tree committee is one of them (e.g., EQCB, Coyote Committee, Archeological Committee). Such committees rely on members who have an expertise on the subject matter and can be called upon when needed to study an issue. There is no cost to the city to keep these boards in place and I appreciate those committee members’ winningness to serve. In the case of the City Tree Advisory Committee – to share their expertise and passion for trees, as well as all their historical knowledge,” Sustarsic wrote.
“The City Tree Advisory Committee may have not met as scheduled since 2018, but I asked that they be consulted on December 14, 2020, regarding the removal of 2-3 Eucalyptus trees at the corner of Seal Beach Boulevard and Lampson Avenue. The removal was needed partly for the upcoming project to complete a bike land in that location, as well as a new traffic signal. The Tree Advisory Committee was consulted and, in the end, only two trees had to be removed and new trees will be planted in the grove as replacements,” Sustarsic wrote.
“Trees are important to us, not only for aesthetics, but in a time of increasing climate change, trees help to keep our communities shaded, cool and supplied with oxygen. Also, as urban densification reduces the size of our yards, trees should be preserved and managed to prevent Urban Heat Islands from forming,” Sustarsic wrote.
Patty Campbell, a former council member who currently represents District Four on the Planning Commission, also submitted her thoughts on the tree board.
“At the time these various committees were formed, they were needed. From time to time a need for them does arise and it is nice that they are still there and can be used immediately. The Tree Committee is one such committee. The last time they ‘rendered an opinion’ was when the city removed some trees for the signal at Lampson & SB Blvd, which would have been around the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021. Seal Beach is a very tree-friendly city — we have our “urban forest” in Gum Grove and the eucalyptus windrow trees along Seal Beach Blvd — both very important to the residents,” Campbell wrote.
“The grove along Seal Beach Blvd had been planted by the Bixby’s for firewood and extended well into what is now the golf course. They were cleared away for the golf course. Initially, the ‘forest,’ was so thick that one couldn’t walk into it at all for fear of getting lost only a few feet in — it was that dense. As part of the Development Agreement for the shopping center, the trees were so important that it states: ‘All mature trees lost as a result of project development shall be replaced pursuant to the following ratio: a) eucalyptus: 4 to 1 using 24” box trees ; and b) non-eucalyptus: 2 to 1 using 36” box specimens.’ Exhibit G-13, page 62 of the DA. That grove means that much to the residents of CPE and surrounding community of Rossmoor. Furthermore, it is in our city’s General Plan to preserve the eucalyptus grove along the east side of SB Blvd. If any removals are necessary, it requires the replacement of removed trees. All that was accomplished with the assistance of the Tree Committee,” Campbell wrote.
“Now the city is looking at developing the golf course: 2 senior residential facilities along Lampson and Seal Beach Blvd, and a hotel next to the club house–all in violation of the Development Agreement which expires in 2029. The proposed housing sites have also been noticed by both the Airport Land Use Commission and Cal Trans Aeronautics as dangerous locations for housing, ie, safety and noise. The proposed locations of the 2 senior housing facilities are currently ringed by many lovely trees along SB Blvd & Lampson Ave. The input of the Tree Committee will definitely be needed for the future of these trees. Please do not disband or dissolve the Tree Committee,” Campbell wrote.
District Two Councilman Thomas Moore also sees value in the tree board.
“I believe the Tree Commission was consulted last year in 2021 regarding the trees near Seal Beach Blvd. and Lampson,” Moore wrote.
“Since the committee is made up of volunteers, I do not see the harm in keeping it to look at issues related to trees when they come up,” Moore wrote.
“There is no cost to the City and we get guidance from residents that have expertise in this area,” Moore wrote.
“As for looking at the commissions, the City publishes all of them each year in January and the council votes on them so they are looked at annually. I’d like to see a fiscal committee that looks at one issue each year and reports to the City Council and Public with their recommendations. The City’s long-term pension obligations will be a problem in 4-5 years and we have residents with strong financial backgrounds where we could use this input to review some strategies in which the city can look at how to best deal with some of these complex fiscal issues,” Moore wrote.
District Three Councilman Mike Varipapa wrote: “In three/four months there will be some new council members. Maybe they can address it then.”
District One Councilman/Mayor Joe Kalmick sees no urgency.
“While it may be that the Tree Advisory Board has not met in quite some time, I do agree that it may be time for the Council to review the need for a board going forward, but I would like to also have input from our residents as well. We are very fortunate to have an in-house arborist on our Public Works Staff. And as there is no financial burden on the City to have the Board in place, there is no urgency to make policy change,” Kalmick wrote.
In an Aug. 3 poll question, the Sun asked:
“Does Seal Beach need the Tree Advisory Board?”
96.64% of participants voted no.
