A property owner wants to take down a Mexican fan palm tree near De la Guerra Plaza, but city staff and advisory committee members say the tree should remain because it is healthy.
The tree is located at 624 East de la Guerra Plaza, at the corner of Storke Plaza. The stump of the tree rests against the side of a building, owned by Washington resident John Chaffee.
In his application to the city, he wrote: “There is a palm tree in Storke Placita at the corner of our building and is growing around or possibly into the building corner threatening the structure of the building.”
Chaffee declined to speak to Noozhawk, saying that drawing attention to the matter might reduce his chances of winning approval to cut the tree.
“This needs to be cut off at the base,” Chaffee wrote. “It would probably be wisest not to try to remove the root ball as this could damage our building. The remaining stump should be treated to ensure that the tree dies. The root ball can rot away over time.”
The proposal to remove the tree is scheduled to go before the Parks and Recreation Commission at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The tree is on city property and is visible when walking into Storke Placita and from De la Guerra Plaza. It stands at the gateway to the placita and is one of the trees that stands out as synonomous with the paseo.
Santa Barbara has 2,569 Mexican fan palms or Washington Robusta city trees. Santa Barbara is designated as a Tree City USA, and it has more than 25,000 street trees.
The city’s street tree advisory committee recommended denial of the removal request.
Nathan Slack, the city’s urban forest superintendent, wrote in the staff report for the meeting.
“The committee discussed the concerns, including comments from the applicant,” Slack said. “Consensus amongst the members was that there was not enough evidence of damage to the building demonstrated.”
The committee, according to Slack, concluded that the way palm tree roots grow there is typically little to no damage from palm roots, since they do not increase in diameter over time like roots from woody trees.
“After extensive review and discussion, both among the committee and with the applicant, the committee determined that at this time the tree did not warrant removal,” Slack wrote.
Chaffee, as evidence for his request, got a letter from an individual named Bill Shields, owner of Shields Construction Services.
“The tree is causing moisture intrusion and will, if it hasn’t already, cause degradation of the masonry mortar and concrete foundation,” Shields wrote. “This poses a risk to the structural integrity of the building.”
In his letter to the city, he noted that he has a degree in civil engineering from Cal Poly, is a licensed general contractor in California and a member of the chamber of commerce.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.