Shoreline Regional Park Community - Regular Meeting

All right, I will now call to order this Wednesday, June 10th, 2026 meeting of the City of Mountain View's Parks and Recreation and Urban Forestry Board. Allison, could you please conduct the roll call?

Commissioner Bryant. Here.

Commissioner Davis.

Here.

Commissioner Sylvester. Here. Vice Chair Sommer. Here. And Commissioner Feeney.

Here. Okay, all five are present. We'll now move on to minutes approval. These are the minutes from the May 13th, 2026 meeting. And before we get to the commissioner, is there any public comment on the minutes from May 13th?

Nobody online.

All right. Bring it back to commissioners.

If anybody has a comment, I would like to make a motion. I was the outlier. Okay. I'll second.

A motion by Commissioner Davis and second by Commissioner Summers. Go ahead with the vote.

Commissioner Bryant. Yes. Commissioner Davis.

Commissioner Sylvester. Yes. Vice Chair Summers. Yes.

Yes. All right. Oral communications from the public. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes and state law prohibits the commission from acting on non-agenda items. If you're in the room and would like to speak, if you could please fill out a blue speaker card. And if you're online, please use the raise hand feature in Zoom and Allison Clinton will read it out soon.

Speaker cards are on the phone. Yeah. Okay, so are you wishing to

You can turn in the card in a moment if you want to.

Speak in my name. Go ahead. Well, thank you. I'm Linda Jekyll. I'm a longtime resident at Willow Park Condos. There used to be a farm.

This is about the appeal. If this is about the appeal that's on the agenda, this is not the time to...

I had no idea. When you said on the agenda, I didn't know if it was on the agenda or not.

Yeah, if this is about the... 500 West Middlefield Heritage Tree. That'll be coming up later in the 11th.

Okay, so this part is for people that have other things that aren't underage. I beg your pardon. But if there's more time. I didn't get a chance to get myself. All right, is there anybody?

That's what I'll say while I'm standing here.

Is there anybody in the room who would like to speak on a non-agenda topic? Okay, anybody online? All right, I will close public comment and we'll move on to new business. Our first item tonight is item 5.1. It's a heritage tree removal application appeal from 961 Eichler Drive. And before we start, I want to introduce, we have two city attorneys here today. The Assistant City Attorney, Diana Fazelli, will be representing city staff, and I believe she's online.

Hi, and yes, I wanted to also introduce Assistant City Attorney, Francesca Serrano, who is there in person. Hello.

Thanks, Diana. Thank you. And Senior Assistant City Attorney, Dave Wilgus, will be representing the Urban Forestry Board. So the process for this appeal, we'll start off with a staff report. Then the appellant will have 10 minutes. And then the PRC, also in a role as urban forestry board, will have an opportunity for questions. Then there will be public comments. Then staff will have two more minutes. The appellant will have two more minutes. and then it will come back to the Urban Forestry Board for deliberation, a motion, and a vote. For this appeal, I believe we have one appellant, and it's the same as the owner, and that would be Elizabeth McAnich. So let's start. I will turn it over to Forestry Manager Russell Hansen to present the staff report. Thank you, Commissioner. Sorry, I got

Lost my presentation, so I'm trying to get that back up for you here. All right, oh, gotta play it.

Okay, so again, thank you commissioners. We're here this evening to talk about 961 Eichler Drive. As you can see from the photograph here, we're dealing with the tree that's in the front of the property, but is not considered a street tree in this case. The particular details for this one, It's one Quercus pelogi, otherwise known as a California black oak. We estimate it to have about a 20-inch diameter at standard height. We believe that it has overall good health at the current time and that the structure is fair. Ultimately, the applicant, when they applied for removal of the tree, the statements they made for the application was the tree is in poor health, the tree is in danger of falling. the tree is diseased with pests, insects, or beetles, and the tree is growing in close proximity to structure and causing damage or will do so in the near future. So when we actually look at the tree in question, the photograph on the left is representative of the trenching that was done. The property owners prior to applying with us, or at least prior to us inspecting it, had done some trenching adjacent to the tree You can see the one trench that comes from the home out towards the street gets to within about 12 to 18 inches, I'm going to say, from the tree. Might be a little bit more than that. And then also makes a turn and goes over towards the driveway. And so some significant trenching. You can see the photo on the right is after they backfilled it to where you can't see the trenches any longer. So if you didn't get a chance to see it while you were on site and you wanted to make sure you had these, When I look at the photograph on the left, that's representative of all the roots that were cut. You can just barely see in that same picture, kind of the top left, there's one small root that's starting to come down off of the root flare right there. That very left hand arrow would ultimately indicate that appears to be a clump of about three roots. It's not actually one large root, but that is three smaller roots, all I'm going to say two to three inches. And then it's kind of equivalent on those other arrows. There were, I'm going to say, estimate 12 to 15 roots that we feel like were cut as a part of that trenching. Again, what I would say is to the left side of the tree. Above and beyond that, the reason we're saying the structure is fair to poor is ultimately because it has poor live crown ratio. You can see on the photo to the right, The majority of the canopy, there's only about 40% canopy at the top and then there's 60% of the stem that has no structural branches, that has no leaves, et cetera. Again, that's problematic just simply because it creates some additional stresses on those branches to where when the wind blows or otherwise that union at the bottom is gonna be a little bit more pressured. And ultimately the tree has a harder time, I'll say compensating because without the foliage or otherwise those structural branches, we're not getting as much sugar and starches, we're not getting that diameter to develop the way we typically would to support the branches, because the sugars and starches just aren't coming from the leaves that are along there. And so that's the real issue we're talking about with the live crown ratio, is not only does it set it up poorly, but then it doesn't recover as well either. So when we looked at the tree as well, the photograph on the left, kind of hard to see, but just about where the skyline starts over the roof of that house in the background, there was about an eight-inch limb that was removed from that location that ultimately, pretty sure, yes, that is the one that was pre-existing from when we got there. Yes, I kind of remember. Would you please check and see if the appellant is online?

Yeah, good question.

So the only two people I see online are an A plus tree arborist, which I think is from Middlefield, and then Gina, who I also think is from Middlefield. Yes.

So Elizabeth McAnage, is she here?

We had confirmation originally, but we haven't talked to her this week.

Correct.

So should we pause this one and

Well, this came up previously and it was properly noticed and the appellant got notice, you know, it's a proper meeting. Absent some indication that she didn't get proper notice. Yes.

Director Marchanti, do you have any opinions?

I don't hear any.

There's no legal issue with doing the other one first to see if she comes, is there?

No legal issue.

I don't think we have to legally, but I think in that case, you would just make a motion to hear item 5.2.

If people are okay with it, I guess I could flip-flop them and... give the appellant an opportunity to actually beat it. I mean, if she isn't here, we'll continue it like we would. Is that okay with that?

Definitely, but we know how to reach them.

What I'm trying to do is see if I can.

Maybe she went to City Hall.

I would hope not. That was the one for next week that we did a double follow up.

Maybe switching don't give us time to reach out. Yeah. All right. Let's do that. Let's let's let's flip flop. Sorry, so

I think you might have to make a motion.

Yeah, I would make a motion to take it out of order. Okay. So I'll make a motion that we flip-flop items 5.2 and 5.1 to give the appellant in 5.1 a little bit more opportunity.

Excuse me, a comment. Are the people for 500 Middlefield all here?

There's two of us here, physically. Okay. And there's two online. And the other two online.

The applicant, the Evan Fuller. I'm just going to make sure no one else is planning to come in.

Apparently the appellant for 5.2 is not here either.

No, online. Gina is the appellant. She confirmed that she was online.

So for Evan, I believe you're here on behalf of the applicant for 500 Middlefield.

Yeah, that's correct. She just asked me to be present to try to clarify any questions or concerns you guys might have about the application.

All right. Yeah, I'll go through.

Is he the only one that's representing them, or is she planning?

Let's bring it back. Yeah, I'm going to make a motion. Flip-flop 5.2 and 5.1. So...

Well, I guess the clarifying thing is, is this gentleman the only person that's planning on speaking on behalf of the applicant for 500 Middlefield?

Maybe the applicant would know that and ask the applicant because it's supposed to be.

Well, it's the appellant and the appellant is on, so that's. I don't see it.

No.

Gina has raised hand.

Yeah, I mean, the appellant, Gina, Tina is on line. Yes, this is the appellant. That's the appellant, I see.

And Gina, are you prepared if we take this item now?

Sure. Yes, me and my husband are prepared. Yep.

Okay, great. Thank you. All right.

So let's... I made a motion.

Okay. I'll second. Okay.

We can just take a verbal vote.

Yeah. So Commissioner Bryant, Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Sylvester. Oh, sorry. Vice Chair Sommer. Yes. And Chair McShane.

Yes. Okay. So... Switching again, so I want to start this and go through all the formalities since this is a different appeal. We are taking 5.2, a heritage tree appeal, 500 West Middlefield Road. Again, I will introduce the attorneys. We have Assistant City Attorney Diana Fezzelli representing city staff. And I didn't jot down the name, so Diana, if you could reintroduce

Sure. Okay, go ahead.

Assistant City Attorney Francesca Florano. And are you also representing city staff? Yes. I'm just writing this down for the next one. Okay. And then Senior Assistant Attorney Dave Wilgus will be representing the Forestry Board. The process on this one, we will have a staff report The appellant will then have 10 minutes. The PRC Urban Forestry Board will ask questions. We'll then take public comment. Then staff will have an additional two minutes. The appellant will have two minutes and then the Urban Forestry Board will deliberate, take a motion and vote. For the purpose of this, I just want to clarify all the players on this. The appellant is Gina and Dave Nguyen. So they are the ones that actually have status on this item. However, if they would like to cede some of their time to the HOA board or to the owner, they're welcome to do that. But it would flow through the appellant on this. Okay, and with that, Russell Hansen will kick off with the staff report.

Thank you, Commissioner. All right, sure.

Okay, so we are here this evening to talk about 500 Middlefield Road Heritage Tree Appeal, which is ultimately an HOA complex. You can see in the photograph here, the redwood tree in question that we're talking about this evening is internal to the complex, so it is considered a private tree. The tree itself is a Sequoia semperviren, a coast redwood that has approximately a 30 inch diameter. We considered it to be in good health with fair structure. The applicant themselves listed that the tree does not have proper growth space, as well as the tree is growing in close proximity to structures and causing damage or will in the near future. So we're talking about basically growth space and damage. A little bit more close up, what we did is we took a shot from the patio and that photo to the left. Looking back at the tree, the tree is actually outside in the common area of the HOA, that this is a private patio for the property owners themselves. So you can see the tree on the left with the condition of the fence. You go to the right, that is actually taken from the outside that you can see. There is still some few inches maybe of clearance as it goes up the stem of the trunk. but that ultimately you can kind of see that bend at the base where the root flare has started to kind of displace that fence a little bit. When we go back to the inside, you can see on the photograph to the left that we're talking about damage in that kind of far corner of the patio. It is paver bricks or otherwise. And then that photograph on the right, you can get a little bit better close up of it and you can see that there's approximately a one inch lift on that patio. If I were to estimate distance of lift, we're probably talking about 24 inches or so of patio that has started to lift. And so ultimately, go back to that. Our belief was that based off of the damage that we're seeing here, the fence still could be cut or slightly modified to accommodate that root flare at the base without creating any major security or access issues, kind of a thing for the property owner. And then as well, when it came to the pavers, ultimately we decided that because in fact they are pavers, that it would be fairly simple to be able to remove the pavers, examine whatever roots are there, likely be able to cut them. Our guess is that this is likely one root that is causing the damage and it is almost completely adjacent to the tree itself where we saw that root flare coming down. And so ultimately, again, our feeling is it was just one root that is likely to need to be cut at this point. But again, we would hope to be able to remove the pavers, make a better judgment call on that in the future. Our final findings were that we did not find that the condition of the tree itself required its removal at this time. We did not find that removal of the heritage tree was necessary in order to construct improvements. We did not feel that the tree or the structure of the canopy was in such condition that it needed to be removed. We felt it was good and could be managed with proper care. And then ultimately, we did not find that the tree should be removed due to good forestry practices because there was not any kind of significant density or otherwise that this was creating any other conflict or otherwise. That's all I have.

Thank you. All right, we'll now move on to the propellant, and that would be Gina and Dave Gwynn. Again, you have 10 minutes. If you want to allocate some of that time to others, you're free, and if I'll let you go ahead. And if you could just clarify whether you are the owner of 149 or whether you're a renter, I'm not sure what the status is on this complex. So I'll turn it over to you guys.

They're owners.

Hi. Yeah, so thank you for giving us this time. Part of it we would like to allocate to A1 for the tree service, just for the arborist to give his kind of overview. But we are the homeowners. My wife actually owned it before we met. She's lived at the complex or owned the condo for about 14 years. and we don't have we're not someone you know we're not a couple that doesn't like trees we like the tree the redwood tree next to that um that is very much separated from the fence the biggest issue for us is that it's you know a risk to our safety it's a risk to the safety of of other residents in the within the community and also the damage that it's doing to our property So what started this was the, there was a bunch of debris underneath the aggregate patio that was originally there. And when we removed a lot of that debris, we found that it had completely lifted about, 4 by 6 foot section and cracked the aggregate and lifted it up. So that's what started this whole project of redoing our whole patio. So the HOA agreed to cover that cost, and they suggested that we put in a paper brick patio. if in the event something happened, we could trim the root system down. When they did all of that stuff in preparation for the new pavers, we also paid to have a whole brand new fence put in. The new fence cost us just under $8,000 with the lattice work and everything like that. And that was only a few years ago. And as you can see, the damage from the root base, the base of the tree, It's already putting additional pressure and it's bowing that whole 10 foot section of fencing. There was a cutout that was done at the bottom to compensate for any type of future growth. And when they were doing the cutting prior to installing the pavers, I tried to get them to cut deeper because it you know, I already knew that this was going to happen in like a year, year and a half or something like that, that it was going to start lifting things back up. And they didn't feel comfortable doing anything more just because they felt that it would destabilize the tree and it would affect the anchoring of the root system. Now, I know the staff has suggested that there could be, you know, they could offset that by, you know, if we did do some more pruning on the root system on the patio side, that we could do more watering on the HOA side to get more growth and help with balancing the stability but there isn't any sprinkler system right there on that side plus on the HOA side plus it is on a like hill side that goes right down into the into the common driveway area so there's no way to really balance that side of it so the only option then is to every like two to three years lifting up the you know the pavers trimming the roots as much as can be done and then we're going to have to replace that section of fence, probably I'd say maybe every five years, you know, more like it, you know, because right now it's already bowing a bunch.

And I included photos in the letter. Yeah.

Yeah. And my wife included photos.

how worse it got just in a matter of a few months.

In a matter of a few months, I mean, you can see that it's completely arced and bowed. And I mean, it's just going to keep getting worse and worse. And the thing is, is it's butting up against the fence. It's only within 10 feet of... of our windows but within less than 10 feet of the roof line um and the gutter side so it's probably about eight feet from that and it's just it's It scares us having it that close, the damage that it's continually doing. And we have no problem putting in a tree to replace that tree just a little bit farther away from the fence and with a tree that won't grow as large of a trunk or as wide of trunk. And... And also in the CC and RS2, I forgot to mention earlier, the HOA doesn't allow for any type of modifications to the fencing system. So we need to keep the fence the same. So the only other option would be to keep making cutouts and to actually take away part of our property line and move the fence in.

Which we can't do.

Which we can't do. So... And the other thing, too, is like, you know, based off this evaluation, there was no looking from the staff from the city of the actual root system and how and how that looks underneath the pavers. So we feel that this was just, you know, a quick, you know, visual scan and looking at, you know, the elevation and lift in the pavers, but not actually, you know. seeing what's underneath the hood. So that's kind of where we stand. And I'd like to give the rest of the time to the arborist to give his input from his evaluations.

Thank you. Just to let you know, in case you can't see the clock, we have four minutes and 15 seconds left.

All right, well, if it's okay, I'll jump in. Can everybody hear me okay?

Yes.

So my name's Evan Fuller. I'm an arborist with A Plus Tree Service. We've been working with the HOA for a number of years. So when this project came up, they reached out and contacted us because we're familiar with the permitting process. And so as part of the quote that they requested for potentially removing the tree, we were also contracted to write the arborist report and facilitate the application for the removal. So my main concern with the tree in this case is really just the root pruning. I wasn't aware of the issue with the HOA requirements and the fencing and all that. Arboriculturally, I would normally recommend just making a larger cutout in the fence to accommodate the trunk growth. But when it comes to the patio, I mean, short of pruning the roots, you'd kind of just have to have the owner sacrifice some element of their patio space, either by building like a raised porch there or something instead of pavers, or to just let the tree continue to lift the pavers. I personally am not comfortable cutting roots that close. If that's the determination that the city makes, then I'll work with the HOA and the resident to kind of advise on the best way to do that. But from a liability standpoint, my company would not be comfortable cutting a root that close to the base of the tree. We'd essentially be cutting into the root flare of the tree if we were to cut it all the way back to the fence line. And my concern there would be just compromising the tree stability. Redwood trees are very good typically at compartmentalizing decay. So I'm not necessarily concerned about you know, making an underground wound that would become infected and start to decay the base of the tree or anything like that. It would really just be the mechanical weakening of the root system on that side could potentially lead to the tree at some point toppling over. And there's not really any way to understand that for sure without excavating the patio and really exposing the main root system on the patio side. And even in that case, we'd still be either shaving down a root or severing a root completely to facilitate the patio repairs. So that was kind of my concern arboriculturally with the tree. And that's why I would recommend removal in this case. I understand the city's hesitancy to lose such a large tree like that. But I feel that the alternative is asking the property owner to make some kind of sacrifice with their property, which may be the city's position. But that would be my input from an arborist standpoint. And I'm happy to take questions as well.

Yeah, we'll have an opportunity. Is there anybody else appealing to you? You've got another minute. Do you want to use your time or are you done?

No, I think we're good. I appreciate, though, the offer.

Okay. And you'll have two minutes more later on. All right. I'll now bring it back to the... PRC urban forestry board to see if we have any questions of anybody.

I have a question for staff.

Have we requested a review of their HOA CC&Rs or anything like that?

Good question, and I'm not 100% certain that they shared that information. But I think they may have shared that with us. And I'll just say it was general language that says, you know, modification offense isn't allowed or otherwise. I don't know as though we read anything that ultimately changed our thought process.

It wasn't your job to find them. But I was just wondering if there was some exception language that's very often used. So to your knowledge, did they take this matter to their board or their HOA?

I believe they had to take it to the HOA because it's an HOA tree and that the HOA kind of encouraged them. I think that was their statement as well as that the HOA encouraged them to submit the application or other way based on the prior repair.

But it's not technically on their property. It's on the common area.

Correct.

And so is the fence their property line? To your knowledge?

To my knowledge, I would say yes, but I do not know that.

All right. Thank you.

Just following up on that, the HOA CCR would not prompt a city ordinance?

No. Questions?

My questions would be about the fence as well. The appellant mentioned not being able to move the fence because of the HOA. But I also thought I heard them say something about not being able to cut more of the fence. Maybe I'm misunderstood. I'm just trying to understand what could be done with the fence.

Do you have a question for that? The meeting is still there.

Go ahead. So to address that, we're not allowed to make any type of visual modifications that you can see from the outside. Where the fence is, we made that a little cutout, which you can see in the image that Russell Hansen shared at the very base. We had some cutouts, which we weren't happy with, but we had to do what we had to do to make it straight when we had the new fence put in. But... but that you can't see from the outside, but anything that was higher where it's bowing that we wouldn't be able to cut from our understanding based off of the CCNRs.

So just a question. I'll start with Russell again, I just if route burning were to happen in the patio area, given sort of what you can see in terms of how much things have been raised. We've been looking at I mean, you again, I think I think you said maybe it might be one route. I mean, you wouldn't know for sure. I mean, you know, would you actually have to cut a major root? I mean, is it likely that this tree has lots of roots? So one root wouldn't be as significant. And would you actually have to cut it or would you have to maybe shave it down a little? I guess it depends on how close it is to the surface of the, if you could. Sure, extrapolate on that a little bit. Make what you can out of my question.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And so trees are always, I'll say, difficult because where we would like to have uniformity, we don't always get that. So I can't really say with any certainty how evenly spaced any of the roots are around the tree. But they do serve as structural support, et cetera, to fight against wind, et cetera. And so typically they're going to try and find a balance point where they are spreading their root system evenly. Having said that, I typically operate on a general rule of about three feet from the trunk, ideally five feet from the trunk. You're going to get outside of the majority of bigger structural roots. Once you get past about five feet, they start to taper down enough into those other structural roots and feeder roots that are out much further, I'll say. And so this one, the tree itself is about two to three feet. So I feel like there's a chance we're going to hit some of the larger structural roots. What that feeds to, I can't really say. I would just simply add that because this patio, I think they'd mentioned that this was concrete before and they changed it to the pavers. That might even be contrary, not necessarily their fault, but by ultimately allowing that additional water and everything else to filter through those pavers, now the roots are going to expand into that area. They're going to grow a little bit bigger because they have the water, they have the things that they need. And so it's kind of a double-edged sword that they did those pavers, but it was the right thing ultimately in terms of saving these trees longer term. In terms of cutting of the roots or otherwise, again, it is so subjective that I can't really give you good advice as to how big of a root and how much of an impact it's going to have. But I feel like it's going to have maybe 20% of the root system. If I were to pick a larger number and just say that that is one large structural root that comes out and feeds a bunch, maybe a 20% of the root system is kind of being impacted because there should be a fair amount of it on that other side where we have landscape and turf and everything else. And so I think that's kind of what we're looking at in terms of cutting them. Just like a tree branch, typically you wanna make a clean as round a cut as possible. So you wanna make it perpendicular to the root or otherwise, and you want to cut that root entirely, only because the tree's natural response is to form wound wood to kind of seal that off and prevent additional decay or otherwise from occurring significantly. And so by doing it that way, you reduce the amount of decay or otherwise that can impact the tree long-term. You absolutely can shave a root down. You do not have to cut that entire root. The problem becomes the bigger the wound, the slower it closes, the more potential that has to have a long-term impact. Trees don't heal, but they seal, they close. It's going to have an impact on how well that closes and how well it's able to defend against disease or other pathogens longer term. So that's why we typically don't recommend shading. But we absolutely do it on occasion. I don't want to imply that don't do it because there are some instances we get into a 12 or 18 inch root and we're really trying to save that tree. We will shave that down because we want to save the tree kind of a thing. So it can be done. It's just not best practice.

Okay. My other question, I guess, would be for the appellant. And that is, it goes a step further on the since this tree is actually outside of property line um if there were fence work well first of all you did some fence work um both on that fence work and on any future pets work is that a a an owner expense or is that an hoa expense and if the tree were to be removed would that be or any work done on the root system of the tree, would that be an owner expense or an HOA expense?

Yeah, I can address that. So the fence is the homeowner's expense. Like I said earlier, the patio and the fence are all brand new as of like two and a half, three years ago. The pruning of the root system and the removal of the tree would be on the HOA. And Oh, half. Sorry. So my wife said it would be half. We were willing to split the cost to help the HOA. But the other thing, too, that I wanted to address is the thickness of the root system. I do know when they put the pavers in and it was fully excavated, the... base of the root that encroaches on our property is probably about two to three feet in, and it's a very thick piece of wood that is probably, I'd say maybe like 24 inches wide and it goes in a couple feet and they had to like shave it down and shave it down and they got as they did as much as they felt comfortable doing. But there's only a very thin level of sand, probably a half an inch at the most in between that big heavy piece of wood on our property and those pavers. So it's not like it's lifting a bunch of soil and stuff like that. I mean, it's a very small margin in between the wood and the papers.

Thank you. I'm going to do one more. So again, another hypothetical. A root, like a major root, how much does that grow in years? course of five years or 10 years. I mean, you know, I mean, I don't know.

I understand. Ultimately, where I go with that is it's going to be very similar to what we see in the branches of the canopy. And it's just there's a lot of factors that are going to change. But typically, you're going to see about a half an inch to an inch in a really aggressive year where it's growing really strong. You might see about an inch of growth overall diameter. So a half inch on either side, real aggressive growth. little bit less aggressive, maybe a quarter of an inch or so. That's typical can exceed an inch. It can be less than that. I just, it depends on a lot of factors. Great. Thank you.

And a question for assistant city attorney Wilkes. So I'm looking at the city's ordinance in the criteria for removal.

Number two,

talking about the necessity of the removal of heritage tree in order to construct improvements or allow reasonable and conforming use of property. So obviously, there's no improvements being proposed for construction. So I wanted to ask you about this idea of allowing reasonable and conforming use of the property and this would be specifically the appellate's property, the condominium. So If they were to, let's say, relocate the fence in order to accommodate the tree, that would presumably be putting some of their property on the outside of the fence. How do you see that whole reasonable and conforming in relation to this sort of idea? Is that meaning that, I mean, because they no longer have use of that part of their property.

Generally, reasonable and conforming, there's two concepts here. A conforming use is just the property conforms to things like zoning laws. Reasonably, this is a little more subjective as far as, you know, is the use of the property, does it fit within the characteristics of the neighborhood? So I'm not sure how it really applies here.

Okay. Because the patio is pretty small, that would make it smaller. Is that unreasonable to ask of them? And from the point of view, I know that reasonable and conforming is sort of a legal term.

Right. And I think we're on, we all agree it's a conforming use. I think it's a reasonable use of the property, which is, does it conform with the general characteristics of the neighborhood or the area where they live? It seems like it's more of an HOA versus resident issue.

Thank you. That gives me some perspective.

Go ahead. Was there any indication of impact on the structure itself? I understand the fence and the pavers, the patio, but anything related to the structure? terms of the house structure? Not that I am aware of, no. Here's another legal question, Dave. We're like the Supreme Court, but how does precedence play into the decisions of this commission? Because we've had many cases before us that are very similar to this in terms of offense and pavement.

Well, I mean, I don't think you're bound by any particular precedence, number one, because each case is so different, even though they're similar cases. Each case turns on its own individual facts. And so it's hard for me to say, well, you have precedence for this, because every case is just so different.

I presume consistency of judgment would be a desirable commission.

It's a little better concept, but again, everything turns on the individual facts and circumstances of each individual case.

Any other questions on this side? Anyone over here? All right. We will now open up public comment. This is your time. If you'd like.

Should I stand?

Yes, please. Did you want to speak on Middlefield or Eichler? I'm sorry. Because you were here for an Eichler original. Okay.

And there's two neighbors here too.

First of all, thank you.

I heard some suggestions here that made me think about how we really need to view this. I think you may be thinking it's a tree and another tree on a flat piece of land. But it's a slope like this that's this high. So some of the tree branches go beyond this into the fence. The rest of it cascades down. into a dirt pile before the cement base. So the two trees are very close together. My question to you would be, they've probably got their root system somewhat intertwined, like the two trees are supporting each other. Is that a reasonable assumption?

That is reasonable, yes.

Yeah. So, and from what you said, the cobblestone structure was put in and that allowed more water get to the roots, correct?

I'm not supposed to answer any questions. You're allowed to speak, but technically I'm not allowed to speak.

I'm saying that I heard what you said, and that's what I thought. So it sounds like we could make it worse by standing out there and watering it and giving these trees more water than they need, and hence increasing their growth and impingement on the patio. It's just a thought. But anyway... I don't want to be at odds with my two neighbors because I just adore these people. They are my friends. But I've lived there since the 1970s. And we've had trees, trees growing. It's called Willow Park. It's all about trees. And we got an award years ago for some of the best landscaping in the city back when it was first there as condors. I'm sort of a tree hugger. I hate to see any trees taken down unnecessarily. These trees I see from my patio and they are majestic. They're huge, beautiful, green, healthy trees side by side like twins. It's not like a tree here, a tree there. They're like a set. And then this unit that my lovely neighbors have, and the young man that moved over here, two trees were like right where the divide between the two patios are. So the trees affect both of those units, although the other gentleman hasn't, to my knowledge, had any verbalized complaint. I like the suggestions you made about working on the fence. The board of directors, which I was on for 10 years and five years as president, not in the very current day, but seem like forever. We've had a lot of discussions about trees and a lot of it weighed heavily on how can we preserve our wonderful tree surrounded area and saying we're like living in a little big basin. It's really beautiful in there when you walk around. And I don't think that you can really even think clearly about what to do with this situation without standing there and looking at the situation first, you know, right with you there. Sorry, time is up.

Okay. So thank you very much.

I have a relatively short comment. I want this...

If you would be comfortable. Because that's where the microphones pick up everything.

Cameras. First, thank you for the opportunity. And I want this tree to stay. So that's the basis for my coming tonight. From all the things that have been said, I'm thinking... We could delay this. We could delay the decision for, I don't know, three, four years, five years. That's one suggestion. The other suggestion is, and I don't know whether this is technically possible, but one of your members here sort of indicated it. The idea of changing the border of each condominium is... self-contained and outside that perimeter is the common area. So this tree is sort of encroaching on a private area. Presumably there is the possibility that the patio becomes smaller and the condo unit has a smaller footprint. and the common area expands. I don't know how that's legal or possible, and everybody would have to be in agreement, but that's all I can think of because I love this tree. And there's been a lot of wanton removal of trees on our property, and this would be pretty bad, I think. to take down. So that being a spoiling, a spoiling. Sorry, I'm not very energetic at this time of night, but that's it. Thank you very much for coming in, Sharon.

Is there anybody else in the room who would like to speak? At your convenience afterwards, if you could fill out a blue card.

My name is Sherry Dupereau, and I live there also. I'm trying to be as objective as possible because I understand that a homeowner does not want to lose any space because our condominiums are small, especially these units are one bedroom. And so people do utilize the outdoor space. And I love redwood trees also, although I think this one does look a little sparse. I think a lot of the redwood trees on our property look like they are needing more water and this does not get that much water because there's pavement and then there's the patio next door. So I understand why the tree is going to the area where there's more water to the patio. I do have some suggestions though. I would be very leery about removing the entire root because the tree is very tall and right across the driveway there's a hole group of other apartments. And with that removal of that root, I think it would damage the integrity tree. However, if the tree maintains that root, I think that possibly rather than using pavers, you could use decomposed granite or gravel, something like that. Yes, it would be permeable to water. So then that root would continue to grow But I would be very cautious of removing that major root right there with the other buildings of apartments of condominiums right across the street. But it's a lovely tree and I love redwoods. And so it's a difficult decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in the room who would like to speak? Allison, do we have anybody online who would like to speak? No. All right. I will close the public comment portion and bring it back to staff for two more minutes if you'd like. Sure.

Again, I don't think I really have anything significant to add. I just... Our feeling is that we're more than happy to continue the engagement with the property owner, have conversations between them and the acreage, their arborist, and kind of come to a resolution to this in the future when they start to make these repairs. when they start to make some adjustments or otherwise. Ultimately, if the damage is significant and then does come out, we do have that ability to revisit this permit and make a different decision at a later time. They can reapply at a later time and we can ultimately make a separate decision at that point. That's kind of where staff is going. And again, I just think there's more time that could be done with this tree to have more conversations if nothing else. Thank you.

Gina and Dave, you have two more minutes and you can take it or allocate it, whatever you'd like.

You should be able to unmute if... Can you unmute?

Yeah, there we go. Starts at a lot of time. yeah so something you know i guess just to address you know the last comment that was said um we did actually submit um a request to remove the tree based off of the lifting of the the previous um aggregate uh patio and that was about two and a half three years ago, probably three years ago. And then we did this whole project with the pavers and the fence, and now we're revisiting it again. And this is because it's getting to a more substantial point in damage, but really it's something that should probably be addressed every year, year and a half, something like that, based off of how quickly the roots growing and also the fact that there's a small gap between the big piece of the root on our side and next to the pavers. The thing that I wanted to say too is that in the bylaws, it doesn't allow us, for the homeowners association, it doesn't allow us to adjust the size of the patio. So we're not gonna be able to shrink the patio or expand it and encroach onto the HOA's property. As everyone knows here, I mean, real estate is very expensive in the Bay Area. So obviously like, why would we wanna just move our patio in another foot just for this tree and then shrink our patio? And we're not gonna do like a gravel patio or anything like that. And, you know, something I just want to leave everyone with it's, we're not against having a tree. We want to replace it with another tree. And one of the things that makes the, the whole development and, you know, and why my, my wife fell in love with the area is such is the variety of the trees that are in the complex. We have Japanese maple, we have, you know, birch trees. We have a bunch of different trees.

All right. Thank you. Okay.

Sir, may I ask you one question?

Probably not. Actually, no, you can't. I'm sorry. The public comment is closed. I don't mean to be rude, but we have to legally stick to what we do. Sorry. So we'll now come back to the Urban Forestry Board and have a discussion if anybody wants to start.

Sure, I can start.

So your complex is just beautiful. I went for a brief walk because I was there like a year or two ago. So I actually found my way, without too much difficulty, so I could enjoy the birdsong and think how lucky you are to live there. It's a beautiful place. So there's, and it's beautiful because of the trees. And the thought of cutting through the roots of a heritage redwood so as to preserve pavers in a patio, it's, those are two completely different things. A few pavers are one thing and the root of a majestic tree. is a completely different universe. The compound complex is designed the way it is and the trees are there. And I think one needs to make the judgment of what is the relative value of the various things we're looking at. It's always very painful when a heritage tree is destroying the foundations of a house, and we have to say, oh, it's a wonderful tree, but the house is a house. A patio is something completely different, and sometimes you have a roof, and you can't put papers onto it, so you have a patio with a roof in it, with a different kind of surface. The recommendation to shave a road or to cut a road so we can preserve papers is something that I would object to, that I really don't like. The fence walking around the complex, I thought, oh my, this is so beautiful. Look at the trees, look at the plants in front of the houses. Taking out a tree would make a serious difference to the look of the area, but making a cut in the fence, I don't know. I personally would not notice. Maybe other people would, but it seems to me like a conversation to be had with the HOA and the directors of the HOA. Besides that, reading through staff's analysis, the one thing I disagreed with was cutting the roots at all. But otherwise, it seems to me that this does not rise to the requirements for taking out a heritage tree. So for me, this was not a difficult decision. To me, I agree with staff's recommendation to deny the field.

Who wants to go next? Would you like to go?

Sure, I'd be happy to go next. I find myself in full agreement with Commissioner Bryant. What a lovely neighborhood. You all are so lucky to be there. Just almost an oasis. I would have never thought that it was so beautiful in there. I'm having trouble finding the justification in the city's ordinance to remove this tree. I feel like the tree, which is in the common area, the responsibility of the Homeowners Association to manage, some compromise needs to be made at that level in terms of shaving a notch out of the fence. changing the shape of the patio, those are all completely possibilities that would not really have any visibility from the public area, public portion of the common area to be hidden behind a giant redwood root flare. And I feel like the true exploration of the details of what needs to be done just has not happened at that level. And if it were to happen and still not be able to arrive at a solution, then I think that is time to come back to staff with another application. And there could be a case made that there's damage that we're not able to address. But I think. at this point, that there are still many options that would not violate the CCNRs, and that needs to be played out before we remove this tree.

Thank you. I agree with everything you said. I think the real conversation needs to happen with the Homeowners Association. It's their tree. If anything, you should sue the Homeowners Association, have them build you a new fence. That's a non-legal opinion. But I sympathize with the applicant. I, too, have a fence that's getting leaned over by a redwood tree. It's not on my property. And it's challenging. It's frustrating. It's difficult. But the ordinance, which is a been around for half a century, it's pretty clear in its intent and purpose. And, you know, to be consistent with the many other judgments that we have made in situations where it for me is impacting a fence or a pavement area, I agree with the the tree of this. Not that that's a necessarily easy thing to mitigate. I hope your association board will assist you in coming up with a solution. So long story short, I will agree with the staff position.

I definitely have much empathy for the homeowner here. It is a small space and I hate to see it impinged upon. I also understand that the owner can't really do much with the fence, even if they wished to. So I go back to, I was actually thinking that some of the HOA representatives would have been here to talk about it too, because it does feel like some of this decision and who should be appealing for applying to remove this tree would be the HOA. So I'm a little confused about who was in the room here. I do want to point out, though, of all the tree appeals I've been in, I don't remember ever having so many neighbors come and talk about a tree and the love of the tree. And it is a reminder why we have a heritage tree ordinance in the first place. It is the love of trees. It is the fact that trees become common goods, not just in an HOA, but among any of the people who can actually see that tree and experience it. I do also want to applaud the neighbors for being so kind and saying how much they care about the relationship with the appellant. I got to meet one of the neighbors walking around trying to find the tree. There is a certain kindness in your community that is unique and wonderful. So I want to applaud you for all being so kind about that and sharing your thoughts. I do have a lot of concerns about what's going to happen to this tree if it is one major root and if it's pruned or cut. I don't know what happens to the stability of the tree in the long run. And I suspect that that would be something that the HOA might want to come back and discuss at some point, especially if it turns out that there's some more extensive root system or it is infeasible to actually prune or cut. So I will probably be supporting the staff recommendation, but with all of those caveats.

Thank you. So yeah, turning to myself, again, it's a mature redwood tree. Um, it looks like it's in pretty good health. It's lush. It's fairly well balanced. Um, it has a nice canopy. Um, actually I think it's nicer than the one that's next to it. Um, although they're both nice, but they seem to be playing well together in terms of sharing, sharing space. Um, so Redwoods, uh, fall in a special, not new protective category. of only needing 12 inches of circumference to be deemed heritage. So we have, I think there's three species of trees that fall into that category. And this one has a 95 inch circumference. And the city code specifies that a single removal criterion is just a minimum and that additional criteria shall be considered with the emphasis on preserving heritage trees. So that's sort of a little bit our mission statement. So, you know, after reading the materials and spending time at the site, you know, the only criterion for removal that I find partially satisfied is number one, again, proximity to structures. I did climb around a bit to examine that, you know, it was a little treacherous on the hillside, but I wanted to sort of see how close the tree was at different parts of the tree to the fence. You know, the upper part of the fence looked like it was about 10 inches I was also able to take a brief peek at the patio. Hopefully that's okay to sort of glance over the fence a little bit. With regard to that, because there's a frustration sometimes we can't get into certain parts of yards and we have to rely on photos. But with regard to the patio, the paper uplifting I saw was fairly, you know, I'm going to call it minimal. We see a lot of these. And in the context of that, I didn't think the lifting was too substantial and it was consistent with what the picture showed. With regard to the fence at this point, and I fully acknowledge that the owner has already made some repairs and put in a new fence, but the damage to the fence is mostly a future possibility rather than a significant current condition. So to me, if and when the tree begins to push up against it or impact the structure of the fence, modification of the fence seems possible. And I would hope that for a minimal modification that might buy 10 to 15 years or more of a mature redwood, that the HOA would be amenable to those modifications and would work to try to preserve the tree. Where I live in Mountain View, there isn't an HOA, but in another location where I'm at, people are trying to get me on the HOA, which I've resisted to this point. But HOA rules, I think things can be modified a little bit. So I would hope that the HOA would be open to working with people to try to preserve this tree as best they can. So anyway, Because the removal criteria for me aren't sufficiently satisfied and because mitigation options exist, I'm also going to lean towards denying the appeal and upholding the staff decision to deny removal of this redwood tree.

Chair Metzner, I I got a sense of so make a motion. It's an emotion that we've got a resolution of the forestry board of the city of Mountain View. I appeal and I'll hold the staff decision. I'm going to go ahead. It's true if I don't feel that title for the reading way.

I can. We have a motion by Mr. Davis. Second by Mr. Bryant. Is there any discussion before we vote.

Commissioner Bryant. Yes. Commissioner Davis. Yes. Commissioner Sylvester. Yes. Vice Chair Sommer. Yes. And Chairman Chair.

Yes. Okay. Thank you for everyone who participated and spoke on that tree. And we will now have an update. Okay.

So I talked with the property owner. I managed to get her to with the one for Eichler or Wheaton?

I think it would be my recommendation under the circumstances, you may want to consider continuing this to give the appellant due process to present the claim. You could also, since it was properly noticed, you could also proceed, but my recommendation would be to continue it to give her due process.

I think I would be more comfortable with the recommendations than you had to. Okay.

Are you okay with that? I'll continue so I can go home and watch basketball. Otherwise, I'm so available.

I'm good with that.

I hope that there's construction going on on that site, and I hope that we don't So it's mandated, but I would prefer that there not be further modifications to the tree in the interim period between today and when we... It's a serious issue.

And part of what's come up, part of what I would really object to and what I can't realize is why. I think the city ordinance has already been violated. And so I'd like us to... So we shouldn't discuss it now because it's not an issue right now. I'm just telling you my reservations about pushing out the meeting.

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were just getting into the merits of it. I think you were expressing something different. But I was just going to say my recommendation would be to make a motion to continue it to a date to be determined. And that's how you proceed if that's what

want to do which sounds like that okay can i ask a question um so that is there what is going to protect the tree while construction work is happening yes is there a way for the city to make clear that the process is the process is in process And nothing further should happen to the tree.

So, yeah, well, potentially a notice from the Forestry Board, which, you know, Russell can address with Diana, that, you know, here's the code section that says you're not to damage trees. That might be something that

they would want to do. And it's public. Will the public be re-notified? Will new signs be put up? Yes.

So is there an active grouping permit? Because if there is, you know, the permit would have requirements.

Right. Ultimately, I'm not aware if there was a permit pulled.

All right. So do we want to make a motion to continue this to a future meeting?

question. The appellant said she was okay with pushing it until September, October?

Yes, correct. The exact response, let me read it to you, was, would you like me to ask the commission if they would like to reschedule? It may mean we wait until September. The response was, sure, that would be an amazing thing.

Okay, well, I move that we continue item 5.1 to a date at to be determined by staff and working with the appellant.

Okay.

Motion. Second. Motion. Commissioner Summer. Second by Commissioner Sylvester.

So let me just continue the question that you were mentioning that Russell could work with the appellant to clarify the expectations of the protection of the tree until it comes before the PRC again. What would cause that to happen? Would we need to say something about it? Would it become something that staff would just do?

Well, I'm going to leave that up to them. I'm putting that forth as a potential option that may or may not happen.

Regardless of the motion, I'm happy to That would be the intention anyways, is to follow up and let her know it was continued. And ultimately, I can share that additional information.

Well, I would prefer to have the fellows here while we're discussing the trigger. Okay.

Do you want to conduct a vote, Ben?

Commissioner Bryant. Yes. Commissioner Davis. Yes. Commissioner Sylvester. Yes. Vice Chair Sommer.

Yes.

And Chair Mishner.

Yes.

If we might be able to take a quick break, it sounds like it might be a video issue.

Okay.

Sound is okay.

Thank our attorneys for being here tonight and we'll reschedule this item 5.1 for future date. Let's please not add an extra meeting. Yeah.

Okay.

And we'll take a, it is seven 20. Seven 35. for 7.35, seven minutes.

The sound is still on.

Okay. The sound is still on.

If all of you go out and look at these sites, it sounds like you did.

To that, I want to say, that's why I want to ask the question, because I want to say thank you. That really shows such good interest.

Like I said, you're letting your neighbors stop and wanting to talk. Oh, I know. Oh, okay.

I don't know if they're going to be back, but they were probably selling it. That's my question. At our line patio, all I see is these. So you're directly across? Yeah.

Thank you for letting me speak for a minute.

Do I have a question? Yes. Oh, okay, all right. I heard her say it.

How is he?

I was not here as a hospital nurse.

Not the exception. We are not the exception. I'm not actually going to walk through that, but I don't want to tell them what's coming. I know you know stuff, but don't talk to me now.

Thank you. Don't just call and say hello a lot. I've been meaning to reach out to him, too. He's a friend of mine from his environmental work. Thank you for reminding me. He's very thin now. So he likes that. I'm surprised. He works every single day. Well, I mean, streets are just wonderful.

Yes, you sound like a bush, a tree.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. my role is um yeah

Thank you very much.

I took it. I took it. I took it. I took it. I took it. I took it. I took it. Were they okay?

Yeah, I see all the pictures.

Yeah, I should have. I will comment. That's fine. Okay, subscribe to Ocean. Yeah. Yeah. And now I just feel like, you know what, I'm going to hang out with people I don't want to, like, deal with, like, and kind of be like her. I don't want to be like her. I don't want to be like her. I don't want to be like her. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

He's going to pass it over to me.

Just like all the other ones, stand up when it's your turn. Yeah, I think we can all stand and turn to the next question. How are the trees doing? So this is my record. The two on the first.

One of them.

And then she's saying, I'm not going to be with her. Yeah, I heard between the lines.

Yeah, thank you. Okay. Okay.

It's going to get, it's eventually going to get here. So that I don't know. Oh, I know. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. um actually

social media. And I've been used to that stuff.

It's better.

Yeah, yeah.

I go to their email list.

I keep just reaching out to people who aren't doing it. You find more of your time doing the hard stuff.

It's a good group of people. Hard stuff. They don't have hard stuff. Some of those are really good options. Yeah.

All right, we're going to reconvene.

It's about 740. And we will now move on to item 5.3, which is our annual update from the canopy organization. And we will let our forestry manager, Russell Hansen, introduce today's speaker.

Sure. Thank you, Commissioner. As you know, I tend to keep things a little bit short, but I'm going to keep this one even shorter and just say that, you know, canopy is a very valued partner. for the city of Mountain View. We've done a lot of hard work with them over the last couple of years to really expand and kind of refine what we're doing with them. And so tonight is just their opportunity to kind of come and share with you all of the accomplishments that we've had over this last year or so. So with that, I will turn it over to Aubrey to share kind of their starting point for us.

evening everyone thank you for having us um at your meeting this evening to have the opportunity to present to you all the work that we've done we're really proud of in partnership with the city of mountain view um i'm aubrey canier and i'm the community forestry manager at canopy and we have evany wang our lead community forester and michael de brock they all um work with city mountain view and either planting or caring for trees so this was the incredible teeth doing the work this past painting season i believe we have some slides i'll just wait a second oh yes we do and now if i'm correct the slides will not be um the slides should work it's just the video feed so i think that when i share these it should be okay

There we go. Great.

We can advance to the next connection.

Yeah, so thanks for kicking us off, Russell. We've had an incredible planting season, and we've seen our community forestry model that we value at Canopy really flourish this past season. And that really happens with this public, private, and nonprofit partnership, really growing our community forest together through all of our different resources, things that we bring to the table, and that's where That's what really moves the needle. So on the public sector, of course, the City of Mountain View's Urban Forestry and Parks Division providing the planting locations to us, helping us procure the trees, deliver them, and having them with us on the day of the event was awesome as well. And then private, we have our Mountain View residents that bring the passion. They accept trees on their property. They come help us plant trees, care for them. They're open to learning more about how they can continue supporting the urban forest. And then the nonprofit partner, us, Canopy, where we bring the community together to grow the urban forest together. Yeah, that's definitely it.

So here on this slide, you can see a visual map of all the trees that we've planted within the last planting season. This metric is just on public parks alone, but this map does include our residential food plantings as well. Next slide, please. So we started this year with a goal of 49 trees, but through this visionary plan in partnership with the City of Mountain View's Urban Forestry and Parks Division, and the belief that the community forestry model of planting trees is the standard all cities should adopt, we were able to increase that limit to 249 with a focus on our public parks. And like Aubrey mentioned, this incredible number can only be made possible because of the community support and the city of Mountain View support as well. Next slide, please. Just this past planting season alone, we were able to plant over 200 trees, which is almost double last year's numbers. Some of the metrics that you see on this slide here, the one I want to point out is In that planting season, we were able to plant, or within these last three months, we were able to bring out 320 unique volunteers, many of whom came back to multiple events. And then again, the next slide, please. One of the pride and joys that I had the opportunity to put together was a new avenue of community engagement, specifically our Youth Urban Forest Stewards. This program, as you can see, was designed to engage youth to come out on their time, create a youth-only space for them to build their own communities, get to know each other, and we're talking students from all across the Bay Area. to come to Mountain View.

I'm the tree care coordinator, so if you guys see problematic trees, let Russell know or let me know. But in general, I've been really grateful with how much the city has been investing in their own people. This year, we've had two trainings with the city park staff. We had 20 of them come out, 10 at each. and even were able to include three of the staff from the Mountain View Wisdom District. In some of these trainings and through the gradual process, we've seen an increased care for a lot of our trees in our public spaces, especially including a lot of the young trees, might have been planted by canopy, that are gonna provide the shade and benefits for future generations. These trainings then transitioned into public workshops, and we had 12 volunteers come help us and our experienced volunteers, with the majority of them being Mountain View residents. We were able to get through, I believe, a total of around 27 treaties cared for just in these workshops. Again, it's been a joy, and we view that tree care as tree trust. We try to come back and show that we are committed.

Next slide. Yeah. So this year alone, we hosted five Arborist-led interactive tree walks in parks across the modern view. And tree walks are great, which saves a way for the commit members to engage with mountain view urban forest canopy and many of our volunteers first started with canopy through three walks and apart from the contract with canopy is both in field and also in classrooms we are the scope of this contract with canopy education team at delaware 50 bilingual lessons to Mistral and Castro Elementary schools teaching our young generations how importance of urban forests. Next slide please. And also Canopy participated in two special events where with one is one of one is Harvest History Festival and Outback Day Celebration at Clearstown Park. And Canopy also supports community education to relevant and also pertinent urban forestry topics through the development of education flyers on pest, tree root conflicts, clearance, and property owner tree maintenance responsibilities. Next slide. And also, please enjoy some of the clicks we had from the previous events, one is the tree walk, and also tree care work. Next slide. And it's our, like, thanks to Mayor Tree Planting, you know, Mayor Emily Ramos, and also, like, where our young urban forest stewards participated in youth replanting. Thank you.

This was Ajit Moran. I was late on this one, one of the largest events of the year, 23 requests to park. I would like to have a personal shout out to Russell and Matt and the city crew who came out to help us deliver the trees, stage the trees, and even a shout out to Abby Trudeau, my predecessor in canopy, who came out as our arborist for the tree walk that day. We were actually just back at the park yesterday. And the trees are looking really good, which is going to be nice for the summer. Next slide, please. Yes. On the left, you'll see our Valentine's Day planting, What'd You Do My Valentine, which was probably our most logistically complicated one. 16 trees, there were 14 houses in one day. It was a lot of fun. But on the right, you can see our helping us at one of our .

Yes. Great. So as you can see, we have a lot that we're really excited that we were able to accomplish this last season. And it really still just feels like the beginning of an incredible partnership that we keep growing with each season. So looking ahead to our next fiscal year, our next planting season, we're just so excited to plant more trees in Mountain View, more education, more community engagement, and just keep deepening this great partnership. Thank you. Thank you.

If you have any questions, I'll take them.

All right. Let's do questions, and then we'll do public comment, and then it'll come back to us if there's anything else. Any questions? Go ahead. Question?

As you heard earlier, there may be an audience for your messaging with the Homeowners Association. I wanted to ask, are they on your list of who you might interact with and provide some of your flyers and expertise to?

Yeah, that's a great question. We've certainly had similar situations where working with the HOA also helps us get more trees in the ground too, but also Canopy, our role in the community and partnership with the city is, I think, to really provide that education and be a sort of liaison so that we can all enjoy the urban forest in a way that also works for the people living in it. We currently don't have specific HOA guidelines, but I'd be happy to next season talk about if that's a priority for the city to provide resources to help navigate those situations where, you know, the permissions or who owns what or, you know, what should we do in the situation can be a bit unclear.

Thank you.

Last year or where you're planting now, what is the mix of trees? Like, what are your top three to five tree species you're planting and why did you choose those?

Yeah, it seems to me, I don't know.

I don't know. The mix of trees were like, most of them are oaks, the first one. And then we went for some grape metals and also Chinese pistache. So those are, I would say these are the top three. And the reason we selected was like most, the old trees were like giving like more amount of canopy since our goal is to increase urban canopy within the urban areas. So, and So they're like mix of native and also adaptable species, which we don't have any non-invasive and also like non-native, which are like invasive species.

Any questions?

This is actually maybe a question more to Steph. What is the When Canopy plants trees, does the list go through step first? Do you like at the start of the list of these are the trees Canopy will plant or how does it work?

Sure, so ultimately this year, yes, we were the ones that were responsible for identifying locations, identifying species and kind of providing that information to Can. In the future, we kind of were talking before the meeting or otherwise there's a lot of things We're going through, get off topic a little bit. It's looking like we're finally going to have our funding for canopy converted to a more permanent staff. We've been operating on one-time funding for the last couple of years. So it looks like we're finally getting that permanent. Knock on wood, that passes in the budget that's upcoming. If that is the case, we're going to be taking another entirely kind of different approach, not just to the tree planting, but to our whole agreement in terms of some of the tree walks, in terms of some of the other outreach they're doing. We want to just kind of go back and have another conversation. So we're expecting that next week we'll be sitting down with them. and kind of revising our scope and kind of figuring out where we want to go as we move forward. But yeah, the hope would be again, because we're somewhat limited with resources or otherwise to perhaps be able to rely on canopy if we give them locations or otherwise, I'll say general locations, parks or otherwise, that maybe they are the ones that are going out there identifying the specific location species or otherwise. And yes, we would still have that come back to us for approval.

If I may add a little to that. We, for a lot of the street trees, we're pretty much always going with Matthew Feist's animals. They're basically our close confidant. He always does a stamp of approval on the trees we choose. And we're still picking from a list that the city has provided, ones that you guys are down to have in parks and on your street tree locations.

Street trees is a more challenging conversation with property owners to make sure that they're happy with what's going to be planted in front of their home.

They like to provide options so they take ownership of their tree.

To that point, how familiar are you with the City of Mountain View's draft biodiversity plan, which helps inform particularly public plantings, but it's certainly a document that we'd like to see the community well-educated on.

Yeah, we are familiar and we were involved in the community surveying portion of it. So about a year or two ago, I think we were tabling at Mountain View events, collecting input through the surveys, which were then used to inform the outcomes and the recommendation of the plan. And I see that being a goal is for Canopy to help execute and enhance the community education goals and having the community members be aware of this incredible document that was just made and then also supporting the urban forestry goals within it.

Right, to help convey those. You work with Palo Alto also, right? We do. Any other municipalities?

East Palo Alto? Yeah. And we recently are in contract with the city of Menlo Park as well, for Belhaven specifically.

And a good regional canopy.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks a lot for your work. Of course. A individual beneficiary. Great. We have a canopy for you too.

Commissioner Bryant, can you continue with the question?

Yes, so it's... The role of Canopy in Mountain View is still, I mean, it's clearly evolving. It started very small. It's evolving. Maybe it will become a permanent part and it will be so easy to really structure it to the specific needs that Mountain View has. At this point, Canopy would be more responsible for working with volunteers, with doing the tree walks, with the educational part. Because the 200 trees, well, wonderful, and every one of them is welcome. That's not the quota that Mountain View sets itself for planting trees per year. So the planting is also being done by the city, by other contractors, whereas Canopy is like the educational volunteer outreach. That's the definition of the role. Am I correct in that?

Historically, yes, but that is part of what we've been transitioning them to be more active in the tree planting because ultimately when we plant by contractor or otherwise, we just don't see the same level of results. We see more tree fatalities, decline challenges, by working with canopy to do the majority of our tree planting, they get that education to the property owners as a part of the planting process. They follow up with that owner to make sure that they're maintaining it as watering if they have any other challenges. And so, yes, the education part of that is the most critical piece for the planting as well. But yeah, that was part of the conversation we had with them earlier is that looking at what we have going forward, canopy, excuse me, per the bio plan, Ultimately, we have a goal of planting 300 new unique trees every year. That is kind of what they've accomplished this year. There were a few of those that were replants. But going forward, we really need to be able to separate that. Our mitigation money is strictly to plant replacement trees. To plant new trees, the 300 trees we're talking about, it's going to be a challenge for them to ramp up and kind of achieve some of that with the volunteers or otherwise. And so there may still be some instances, roadway medians or otherwise where it's challenging for volunteers, etc., Those are still likely to be done by us. But in those cases, we ultimately have more control over the irrigation. We have more control over monitoring them with our contractors that are doing the landscape maintenance, et cetera. And so it's going to be about, but ultimately any of the plantings that they're able to achieve, I want to try and use that as much as I possibly can. Because of those extra outreach, because of that extra education, I just think it's invaluable.

So this goes a little beyond canopy, but I've turned up this year. Moving forward, I hope that the PRC will get a clear understanding and participation with the city in how this is all going to be structured. So we all have a clear idea of how this is working, how we're achieving our goals for biodiversity. And thank you.

And I'm going to chime in just a little bit so I can fill some of the gaps as well. Each year we do a scope of services with Canopy and each year it's evolved a little bit based on the needs of the community, based on our needs, based on what we're seeing. So we're going to be taking a look at the biodiversity plan and once again taking a look at where those gaps are and where we can partner with Canopy to help fill those gaps. We had education for a while. Now we're seeing a need for planting. It will continue to evolve. So I'm just tagging on to that, but the bio plan will be really important in taking a look and partnering with Canopy and having them take a look at it and say, hey, we can help with this, and we need help with it.

Are there questions? Yeah, I think you have on your website an arborist referral link. Yes. Is that something that you consult with them on? Should you?

We could stand up.

Ultimately, it just depends. It's challenging for us as a city agency to provide recommendations or otherwise on private property and the liability that that presents. Doesn't mean I can't be a sounding board if they have questions that I can have conversations with them, et cetera, but it's a challenge. And they do have arborists on staff or otherwise that should be able to answer most of the questions.

Yeah, traditionally it's been a helpful tool to point residents to because like Russell was alluding to, cities are a bit limited in providing a recommendation for arborist service. So if we get a lot of people, I have a street problem, do you have recommendations for an arborist? That's when they can come to Canopy as a nonprofit. We then have the list that has extensive filters that we keep updated with local certified arborists.

Can you somehow qualify them as arborists or just go off of AI, what's your association? ISA.

Oh, I was like, not AI, ISA. Yes, yeah. So they're ISA certified arborists and then they're researched like what they're specialized in and then the user can filter and then it just shows a more concise list of local arborists that might be better for their situations.

Another question. I just wanted to ask questions sort of about your funding model. You know, it sounds like I would have asked about the other cities. So it sounds like you'll have contracts with two or three other cities. But in terms of revenue, what are your annual report? What are your other sources? Do you have like a couple of major benefactors? Do you just rely on hundreds of small donations? What are your service sources?

Yeah. We have a pretty healthy, diverse portfolio. So there's the sitting contracts, but we have substantial state contracts for state grants from CAL FIRE, and as well as private foundations, individual donors. So it really is expansive and diverse. So our work that you're seeing here, we even are able to go a bit beyond the educational lessons that Uday mentioned. That's from a private foundation. So our work is never funded entirely in a vacuum. We're always seeking and acquiring additional funding to keep the organization healthy.

Well, I mean, it's good to have that.

Yeah.

So is there any public comment? Anybody in the room want to talk? Anybody online?

I don't see anybody online.

So I'll close off public comment and see if we have any final points.

Thank you.

Well, thank you very much for all you do. I've been on one of your walks and I've also been with you on a joint leadership interview with one of their. Yeah, great. I'd still go back to the tree and try to see how it's doing. That's what we hope for. Thank you so much for being here tonight.

Thanks for having us. Thank you.

All right, so if I can really quick, I also, we're kind of having a conversation on the side here, not necessarily related to canopy, but we kind of passed along some information about invasive shock hole borne. And I just wanted to kind of throw out some additional information. Ultimately, we believe we have found one tree out towards Monteloma, San Ramon specifically is a street, that we believe is infected. Unfortunately, the first results that we've got back for the pest actually comes back to something different. It may not be the invasive shot hole borer, but we have a secondary pest that there is a very specific fusarium fungus that they carry. That test, for some reason, has been delayed, and we're not quite sure. So we're trying to figure out what's going on with that test, because that's going to be the more definitive. But ultimately, kind of, that was already, we already had a plan in process. We knew that this pest was coming. Having come from San Jose, it was a pest that we discovered in San Jose literally about six months before I left. It has exploded in San Jose to hundreds and thousands of trees that they're currently trying to manage. It has also moved up to Sunnyvale. They have confirmed the presence in Sunnyvale. We believe we have it on that one tree. Got to confirm that. In the interim, we started a trapping program. Those traps were actually set out on Monday. If you go to our urban forestry page, we actually have that map up on the page. So it will show those trap locations. As we start getting results from those, we will be posting those results on that very same webpage. So each day that we, every two weeks or so, we're going to be inspecting those traps. Those results that we get, we will then put back up onto the website. We're going to be tracking that trap as well as we're going to be physically monitoring that area around San Ramon. Because again, we're just not confident that those test results are accurate, I'll say. So we may do some, again, some monitoring of that specific neighborhood, looking at specific trees, making sure it's safe. not expanding at a rapid rate. Ultimately, it is a task that is very, very difficult to control. Everywhere else that it has come in, it has been just simply managing the decline of some of these amplifier trees or otherwise that really start to spread the pest. They are so infested, they're laying so many eggs that they're kind of amplifying that presence of that. And so the key is when we get to that state, this will all be on the website again, less than 50 trees, we consider a minor infestation up to 100, or excuse me, less than 50 strikes. We consider minor up to 100. We consider it as moderate, more than 150 strikes on a tree. It becomes excessive, more problematic. There are treatments, there are chemical applications that we can do to kind of reduce those, spread that infection process. Always trying to be very cautious with that because of our integrated pest management practices, etc. Beyond that, We know this is going to have an impact on the trees. We know we are going to lose some trees to this pest. It is about staying on top of it and getting them out as quick as possible if needed or treating them so that we can reduce how fast it's moving so that we can continue to keep our canopy. Primary species, I think, as we kind of have said, sycamores, oaks, ash trees, Several other species, maples, Acer negundos in particular, box elders, are considered an amplifier. They are one of the worst trees for this pest. They find those trees, they infest those trees. Decision has been made previously in most of the other areas that this has come in. Just as soon as you see them on the Acer negundos, those box elders, get them out. So, you know, bottom line, there's a lot for us to still learn. They are acting a little bit differently here in Northern California than they were in Southern California where they were first identified. But we'll kind of see how this progresses over the next several years. But this is something that we're going to have to manage as we move forward. There's no way to control it or the short answer. So any questions that you have specifically about that for us this evening?

Can I?

Sure.

I was in Pioneer Park all the time, but several of the oaks, especially our Centennial Oak, look absolutely terrible. Is there another disease going on? Is it stress?

I'm attributing most of those because I'm aware of a lot of those trees, especially there's one big valley oak towards the south end of the building there that I've been watching the last couple of years. I think the majority of it is just site stress related, where water has been changed, where construction has occurred for that parking lot on the south side of the library. different factors for each of those, but absolutely we are monitoring them and if needed we will step in, do some supplemental fertilization, watering, whatever we need to do to kind of keep them moving. I don't want to raise an alarm bell on this one. If you're there at Pioneer and you get the opportunity to walk along Franklin Street, all of the sycamores along Franklin in front of the library have died. We're not sure why on that one. We're not seeing the ISHB, we're not seeing any of the common problems. What we've kind of thought is there may be some herbicide damage, there may be some other things that are affecting them, so we're looking at testing or otherwise. But there's about a dozen trees on that site that we're gonna have to remove. Because we haven't been able to pinpoint it, that's why I'm watching those oak trees or otherwise, because we have seen in a couple of other locations, where it's not just the sycamores, where we are seeing it on oak, we are seeing it on asterisks, that this is a similar dieback. And we just haven't gotten to the bottom. We've been looking at it for probably two to three months now, talking to different testing companies to see what they can test and how we can get that and samples that we need to take. So we're just trying to kind of figure it out. But they are absolutely on our radar screen and we see the value in those. So we want to do everything we can to try and keep them.

The centennial oak. It didn't find like till a couple of weeks ago and I was there just a few days ago and it looks.

Okay. I haven't been there the last couple of weeks. Is it defoliated or are the leaves not browning and dying off?

It's hard to tell that it's just awful.

Okay.

Partly the foliage, I think. Partly the leaves, some browning. Yeah, they're brown.

So there's a couple of things that come to mind immediately on those. One of them is we have absolutely had a, I'll say, significant... occurrence of tussock moth this year um tussock moth is very much favorites our oaks are very much a favorite of the tussock moth um it's quite possible that's why i asked about the pollination because if we get enough of a population in the tree they can almost defoliate that entire tree um so that's the first place i go second place that i go um is ultimately i lost track of my thought the pussic moth and then the other place that I went was anthracnose that's what I was trying to say is that because of the later rains that we've had this year oaks are sometimes susceptible to anthracnose or otherwise and so that would be the other place I go if they're browning and kind of staying on the tree initially it may be an anthracnose fungus bacteria type problem as well and so bottom line I will get out there sometime this week or early next and take a look at that and see if there's something we can do more immediate with it

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Is all this going to change what trees you're recommending for planting?

Potentially, yes. Sycamores are already on that list. One of the things we also did that I believe is up on the website yet, but because sycamores are the predominant species that they saw affected in LA, and that's predominantly what San Jose saw, What we did is we created a quality heat map where basically we mapped the density of the sycamores throughout the city. That's ultimately where we decided to place those traps, where we knew we had a large amount of boasts or otherwise. And yes, we have to hedge our bets. If we know that that sycamore is a favorite, we need to try to avoid them somewhat. Again, I don't want to completely eliminate them from our pallet because it's not their fault and they may not get affected. But we have to be careful. We don't want to plant too many more of those knowing that it may wipe out the majority of them.

Let me jump in. The native sycamore in Pioneer Park looks dead.

Okay.

I planted that as a mayor and it looks dead.

Okay. I will get over there and take a look at that at the same time. That definitely has me nervous about the ones that are out along Franklin Street that it could be tied to that same past.

Yeah.

Again, Commissioner Sylvester has a question. I'm going to say we probably identified almost 200 trees in the last three months that aren't leafing out and aren't performing the way that they should be. And so we're really scrambling to try and figure out what these issues are.

Two questions. What is the fatality rate of the borer? Or is that a metric you have?

We do not. It is significant, I'll say. As much as I'll say 30 to 40 percent. Long term? It is almost always fatal. Even management, all you're doing is slowing the progression of it. The way that the pest operates is ultimately it bores into the tree and then it lays this fungus down. Once it's in the tree and it lays that fungus, we're not getting rid of the pest and we're not getting rid of the fungus. And so it's just about keeping the populations low enough to where they don't valorize the tree so much that it completely shuts down and dies. I'm going to say it's 100% mortality, but ultimately it's about managing it to where, you know, quick death, I'll say less than 30%.

That's still really high.

Yes, absolutely. This is a problem. They lost hundreds of thousands of trees down in the San Diego, LA area.

And a quick question. You mentioned the trees on Franklin. One thing you're looking at, it might be herbicides? Potentially, yes. Because the city's IPM program, it's just that it's not from the city. Where would they be coming from?

Sure, absolutely. And so one of the things, it's not that we don't use herbicides, because we do. We've eliminated the use of Roundup. And so what we've done is we've gone through and we started using two or three different chemicals that were recommended to us by Target Specialty as alternatives. What I fear is that one of those alternatives was used in an inappropriate location. That typically one of those chemicals should be used away from, I'll say, plants, shrubs, trees, etc. Absolutely kills everything. It is a broad spectrum herbicide.

Because it was new, somebody just...

They may have made a recommendation. Somebody may have grabbed the wrong thing. Again, I don't want to point fingers because I just don't know yet. I don't want to imply that this has happened, but we have to rule it out. Yeah. And just when I look at these trees and ultimately I rely on my colleagues. I was at a conference about three weeks ago and actually four or five weeks ago now. And I was going around to all of my industry professionals from L.A. that have dealt with the ISHB, that have dealt with all kinds of things. Almost unanimously, all of them were pointing towards herbicide damage. That's what's got me looking at herbicide damage. The problem is it's not easy to test for herbicide damage. It's very, very expensive and you have to know specifically which chemical was used.

It's almost like you have to rule everything else out.

Almost like, yes. And so again, we're working on that. I just got an email today from the testing company where I feel like I'm finally going to be able to test for the one chemical in particular that I'm concerned with. I just don't know if it's going to give us the results because they say that they can only test water. and we don't have water per se. And so what we're talking to them about right now is, is it possible that if we take a gallon of soil and we put in three gallons of water and we make ourself a nice compost tea or otherwise, and then we filter that into just a solution of water, are you still able to test? And they feel like they're gonna be able to do that for us. And so, again, that's my challenge. I just, I have to start ruling things out one by one and try and get this under control because knowing the ISHB is here, we do not feel any of these trees are related to that. We're not seeing the strikes. We're not seeing the pests. We're not seeing anything. But it's a problem. A year and a half from when we first saw symptoms at the Franklin Library to where they are at this point. And you have to replace them. That is not typical. There's something going on, basically.

Do you know what you'll replace them with? Are you going to?

We haven't even gotten that far yet.

You don't know if there's a susceptibility to a certain tree.

Correct. That's where it goes back to. We're likely to remove them over the summer that we're going to get them out. And the hope would be we're going to replant them this fall as a part of all of our planting this winter. But I haven't made any decisions on species because I just don't know what my problem is yet. I have to pick appropriately to avoid future problems.

Okay. Unless there's compelling extra questions, I'd like to move us along to our next agenda item. Thank you very much.

Absolutely. Thank you all.

And Allison, do we still need time to set up a minute or so to get connected to the Zoom?

All right.

Our next item is item 5.4. This will be the fiscal year 2627 operating budget. And Lindsey Wong will be our presenter and she's just getting set up now.

Just one second. Thank you.

Give it a second.

Just one second. And this happened last time, too. Here, just put it on mic.

Thank you.

You good?

Yeah.

Thank you.

One of these days I'm going to get it back. Okay, good evening, Commissioners. I'm Lindsay Wong, Senior Management Analyst for the Community Services Department. And tonight I'm here to present to you CSD's recommended operating budget adjustments for fiscal year 26-27. The recommended budget was presented to City Council last night, and the final budget will go to Council for adoption later in June. Next slide. Tonight's presentation will go over recommended budget adjustments for parks, forestry, shoreline, and recreation programs and services. So first, our CSD recommended non-discretionary expenditure adjustments. So non-discretionary adjustments are typically related to contractual rate increases or other adjustments that are considered necessary to continue existing levels of service. So the first non-discretionary budget item for CSD is the ActiveNet fee increase. So ActiveNet is the department's registration software system that we use to register participants for classes and programs, reserve facilities and process point of sale transactions. ActiveNet charges as a processing fee per transaction and that fee typically increases annually. So we're requesting to add 77,000 for that line item. And then the second non-discretionary budget item is an increase to CSB's landscape maintenance contract. So this contractor performs maintenance service on roadway medians and other landscaped areas throughout the city. And this budget adjustment covers rate increases, as well as the addition of new parcels that previously had no formal maintenance plan, but now require landscape care to continue safety, compliance, and aesthetic standards. Now we have CSD recommended discretionary expenditures. So for recreation, we have the pride celebration event. The inaugural pride event was held last year and CSD will be hosting the 2026 event next Saturday, June 20th, which we hope you can all attend. The ongoing cost for this item includes vendor and contractors, supplies and materials, and part-time staff costs. And then also in recreation, we have Magical Bridge programming. So starting in 2025, the city has had year-round inclusive performances at Magical Bridge playground at their community stage. And the ongoing cost for this item also includes performers, supplies and materials, and part-time staff costs. And then moving on to Shoreline, CSD is recommending the addition of one full-time park maintenance worker three to oversee maintenance of the Stevens Creek Trail and Permanente Creek Trail. Historically, trail maintenance has been divided among different work groups within CSD with no dedicated staff person. And so the addition of one dedicated park maintenance worker three for the trail system means that one staff member can ensure a consistent maintenance schedule look for opportunities to enhance the trail and oversee hourly maintenance staff and coordinate with other crews and purchase supplies and materials for the trail. And then next in the urban forestry division, we have the forestry outreach and education services item, which is Our Canopy contract, which you just heard a lot about and got to see all the awesome work that Canopy does with us. And I think Russell touched on this a little bit, but this contract has been funded on a one-time basis for the past few years. And we are recommending that this be funded on an ongoing basis. So $125,000 is the recommended ongoing amount. And then we're also recommending an additional $200,000 for the tree planting that will take place in fiscal year 26-27. And then lastly, we are recommending additional funding for training and conferences throughout the department. So this adjustment, budget adjustment ensures that CSD staff are able to attend necessary specialized trainings and conferences as new staff have been added over the past few years and also as the cost of training conferences and travel have continued to rise. So this includes safety trainings and trainings required to maintain technical certification for certain staff as well as industry specific conferences that support professional development for staff. And then next we have limited period budget items for fiscal year 26-27. So limited period is just what the city calls items that are funded for one year at a time rather than ongoing. And these are typically requests that are either one time in nature or these are newer programs or pilot programs or things like that. So first for parks, we have power washing services. So this funding is specifically to continue monthly power washing services along the 100 to 300 blocks of the Castro Street pedestrian mall corridor. And specifically is for all outdoor restaurant and business patios, crosswalks, and the center walkway, including the street mural. And this power washing service has been funded on a limited period basis for the last couple of fiscal years. Next is ellipticals at the senior center. So this funding is to replace two aging commercial grade ellipticals at the senior center in the exercise room. The exercise room at the senior center is free to use and it's heavily utilized by our senior community. So this is just to kind of replace these older pieces of equipment. Next is teen college and career programming. So these programs were initially funded through a donation from LinkedIn. multiple years ago. And then once that donation was fully expended, we continue to fund these programs through limited period funding. And these programs are offered at the VUE Teen Center and include college and enrichment trips, adulting 101 workshops, career day events, and other free programs that enable teens to build crucial skills to prepare them for their future. And then last, we have the biological services contracts at Shoreline. So this request is to continue existing contract services into the new fiscal year. At the same time, CSD is currently working with a consultant and our HR department to review and update the job description of the wildlife preservation coordinator in order to establish a plan for ongoing biological and environmental support at Shoreline. The contractors are currently responsible for surveying and monitoring wildlife, developing monitoring plans for habitat enhancement projects and other services required to support the goals outlined in the Brewing Owl Preservation Plan and the Shoreline Wildlife Management Plan. And then lastly, we have capital outlay items. So capital outlay items are typically pieces of equipment or sometimes minor building improvements that are basically less costly than a full capital improvement project. So first we are recommending wood chipper safety shield devices. These are devices that will be installed on the forestry division's three existing wood chippers. As you can imagine, wood chippers are very dangerous pieces of equipment. So these devices use new technology, new magnetic technology as an added safety measure for staff. And then next we're recommending a new projector here at the community center in the Redwood Hall to replace the current projector and just enhance AV capabilities for events. The current projector has had, it's been here since the new community center opened and it's just had issues with the lamps or the bulbs having to be replaced a lot. So the new projector is like state of the art and more efficient as well. So those are all of the recommended requests that were included in the budget item last night. So as far as next steps, on June 23rd, we will adopt the fiscal year 26-27 budget. And then on July 1st, the new fiscal year starts. And that is the end of my presentation. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about budget.

Great. Thank you, Lexi. Questions?

We'll start on this side. questions. Yeah, the thing that stood out to me was the active net increase of 50-something percent. How do they justify that?

So the active net fees, so they do vary based on the type of transaction. So basically the per transaction fee, it's anywhere from like 2% to 5%. So there's different fees based on if it's like a onsite transaction or if it's an online transaction, credit card transaction. So they kind of vary. But we have had to pay the per transaction fees since we implemented the software. And I presume that other registration softwares probably charge similar fees. But it's not just that the fee itself is going up, like they're charging us a slightly higher percent, but also because the number of transactions that we process every year increases, we have to kind of. So the revenue also goes up and kind of offsets that. So, um, just like some rough numbers, we process around 42,000 transactions annually. And then the total revenue just for the recreation division alone last fiscal year was around $3.5 million. So we do bring in a lot of revenue with those added transactions, but.

And that's not a single year increase. So we don't look at, we haven't increased.

We haven't increased it. I don't think we increased it last year. We kind of increased it like every couple of years, just so that we don't have to come back every year and do this rate increase.

Just to follow up on your question, I'll let you go back. But when you make this presentation, are you also showing the revenue offset as part of this? It's not just a $77,000 incremental expense. You're also saying it's also going to increase revenue by 30 or something like that.

Yeah. So we do adjust our revenue lines as well. When we, when we, so the process of like we submit our budget requests to city leadership, to finance, we work with them and then they kind of balance the city's budget, but we do work with them to adjust those revenue lines as well. So the added revenue is also built into the revenue budget so that, you know, we can show that we're meeting those revenue targets and exceeding our revenue.

Go ahead. And then the biological services consult. Do I understand that to be a placeholder until an FTE is? So it's basically paying a consultant until you hire someone.

Correct. And then based on the outcomes of the job description, there may be certain, we have some lessons learned through this. So there may be some helpful aspects of what they're doing now as consultants to keep them on for certain things, but not to keep them on to basically be the full-time employee. So yes, we'll bring on a full-time employee and determine what type of additional assistance they may provide, but we'll see how those come together.

And then I recall last night, the council member was asking you to look at lactation. Are you going to do that?

So the council did not give us direction last night that what we were asked to do was to look at it for future reference. And so the library director emailed me today with a little more information. I have to look at how large it is. Can we accommodate it? And what the best location would be. And so we'll look into that.

What does that require other than just privacy?

You've seen the one at the library?

I've seen them at airports and everything. It's a little mini trailer.

Yeah, it's a capsule, if you will.

It's a comfortable place to be at. Yes.

Any questions? So I just have a couple questions. So one, again, this is It would be great to do this before it actually went to council. And I know that we've discussed that in the past. And I thought we were going to try to get this through. I don't know if you can comment on the timing of this. Because once it's gone to council, there's stuff that we could not do. And we would probably be a great test audience for you as well on some of these things.

So there's a balance. of bringing requests to the commission in advance of council. I think we are trying, again, the timing of when items are going to council has changed. So last night was not their first shot at the budget. They did back in April as a precursor to what was coming. And so the timing has changed for us of a good time to come to you. And so we're coming to you tonight. If there was something that was of significant concern, we would be able to have time to turn around and move on. Given what I would call limited requests this year, I didn't think anything on there is significant that required differently but this really was a pretty low level year for us.

Yeah I mean I guess you know one question that I would have is given that the strategic plan is now passed and biodiversity will probably also pass and we have headcount-ish things in those plans whether it would have been appropriate or Or is it too early to introduce those things? Because you don't know exactly what they're going to look like. Hopefully for next year's budget.

Right. And so we have not had time to do the analysis and appropriate work to make a budget submittal. I want to remind this group that we as the department start submitting our budget requests in December. And so we are starting in October. Everything follows through me before it gets moved on. Then we submit it. We come back in January, February with finance. Then we meet with city manager and others. And through that process, our, you know, our requests start coming down even more to get to this point. And so looking at that timeline, it's impractical for us to be in a position to make those requests. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, maybe. I don't know if there's mid-year opportunities. Because I do do a mid-year look at it. And then just one question. You sort of touched on it. So you watched, but how did council react to the community service division request?

Other than the question regarding the lactation area, there were no questions. I have not received any specific questions through the process related to our requests.

Okay. And the budget overall for the city that was presented was okay. I mean, yeah, I mean, there wasn't some top down thing that says, Hey, you know, this is a little too much. We need to get 10% or something. No. Okay.

Right.

Go ahead.

So soon, would you be able to share how you're perceived working with us on in developing budget related matters for the strategic plan of the biodiversity plan. I realize you might not be able to sit here and answer that question right now, but I mean, just looking out over the next year, it would be really nice to know whether there's any input points where there's decisions or, you know, things that we could assist you with. Cause it would be a shame to be in the same place next year.

Understood. Yeah. In relation to the plans and the way that we're moving forward. A couple of things to respond to the question. Number one is some of the short-term action steps that have been identified specifically with the Parks and Rec Strategic Plan. Many of those are almost cost neutral, looking at our existing codes, policies, that type of thing, staff time, but not a lot of expenditure. As we look to looking at full-time and headcount, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to be able to bring forward a good, solid plan of what that looks like. And so as we move forward on that, we'll continue that conversation.

Yeah, I mean, I think you know this group is interested in the budget implications as well, and I'm sure the public is too.

And we'll be bringing specific actions, those actions that are identified, we'll be bringing those to you as they're being worked on, produced, I see a lot of them just being one at a time that we're going to be bringing some of those items.

Because they're revenue neutral and you're able to plan the staff time or piggyback on something else. So it's just more thinking about how you would be changing your processes because now you'll be working with these other departments and all that.

And some of it may require some initial effort and so that we can determine the type of help we need, right? And so Brenda for the biodiversity, she'll be taking the lead in working with the cross-departmental team, looking to identify what those actions are. And then there's going to come a point, she's going to be able to identify this is the type of position we're going to need to support that. And so it's going to be a little- Not necessarily-

It's not necessarily going to all be capital improvement, but it's going to sum up and fall into the headcount. Yes. Anything else?

No. It just sounds like you're going to need some money to combat that old bore.

So I'm going to put a 10-degree after that. So let me check and see if there's any public comment. Anything online?

No.

All right. So unless there are any other comments on this one, we'll close this one off. Thank you very much, Lindsay. We'll now move on to item six, commission and staff announcements, updates. Director Marchand.

Just a reminder, we are meeting again next week. We'll be at City Hall. It is two more various tree appeals, plus we'll be looking at our work plan for the upcoming year. I emailed, I sent out an email to the group in advance of the council meeting. Last night, council did approve the purchase of the additional property at 975 Caravella. So that is the 0.6 acre parcel to take what was the parcels we had already taken and brought together. That was 2.4. With this addition, we are now at 3.2. So really bringing us to what the size of Pyramid Park is, and that's significant. So being able to bring multiple properties together in this area was significant for us. And in addition to that, that area being in need of parks, that area is going to be expanding as we look at what type of development is on the horizon. There's some pretty significant development that's scheduled to go in that area. So this is certainly much needed. As Lindsay stated, Pride event, June 20th, downtown. Please join us. This week was and is our training week for all of our summer staff and lifeguards. So it's been busy here. And then all of our city-sponsored and supported camps start next week. And there are a number of events and camps taking place out at Sailing Lake. The Sailing Lake Cafe is under construction right now. That continues to stay on track. But the standing lake itself continues to be operational and supporting summer camps out there. So those are my updates.

Let me ask you a question on World Cup. Are you involved in the downtown festivities for World Cup? And then I also think I saw there's something happening at Guelph Park. Is that something that you guys are overseeing?

I have staff involved with economic development. Yes. And so... Foot golf, I believe that's kicking off tomorrow. And so that was from Recreation Manager Colin James has been involved in that. And then downtown, I forget the dates, but where the old Wells Fargo was next to City Hall and that parking lot is currently closed to public access. that property owner had allowed the city to install a soccer pitch, if you will, like a five-on-five soccer pitch for the duration of the World Cup. And it'll be available to use and participate in that way. And so, yes, staff has been involved in the development of these activities.

And I know that they've been trying to work with businesses to get them involved.

As well as the youth sports organizations. I believe it's AYSO is doing some outreach to the community, actually doing some free soccer camp type of activities, drop-in to support the activities. The San Jose Earthquakes, actually, their mascot, Q, will be coming out in playing some foot golf out at Cuesta one day.

Does that Cuesta thing, I mean, does it run sort of like multiple hours? I mean, I went on the website and it wasn't there yet or something like that.

It will just be drop-in and available. Bring your own ball. Okay. So it's not organized. Be back. No. Drop-in and enjoy. Go ahead.

Someone last night at council, I think it was a member of the public, mentioned that there was another property that just came for sale near the Terra Bella Park. That's all that was mentioned. It would have been sort of the new property sort of in the middle.

So 965 is available. So when it comes to property acquisition, I will say that this was a... Getting 975 was, what's the word? Opportunistic. The perfect storm came together. And the funds available were in place. We were able to take advantage of it. At this time, I don't have the available funds to purchase an additional property in this location. I basically used the funding we had left in this area to put towards the purchase and then also the design and construction as part of the overall. So at the moment, as much as I would like to, that's just not in the cards right now. We know the property owner. and I don't think it's going to be picked up anytime soon. So it's an opportunity for down the road. If nothing else comes to fruition, we will keep our eye on it if and when we have some additional funds to put in place.

Can you do a loan, an internal transfer from another plant, understanding that development is coming in that area and there will probably be replacement fees? Can you?

have other... We are having some of those conversations now.

You know, so for example, that measure... Measure G. You know, we got 1.5... Is that 1.5 already used for this? I mean, it's just...

I will tell you, as soon as anybody heard, I had $1.5 million. Everybody wanted to spend it. So, yes, the new community development director came up with this term. A lot of times we have money that is very strictly available for certain things. The 1.5 is almost what we what he calls a rainbow color. We can use it where we need to and when we need to. One of the items that I don't have funding for right now, and I am trying to save a little pot of money, is to design and construct Calderon Park. So I'm trying to be the, trying to keep hands off because We've had the property for a while. It is a location that is visible. We want to bring that to fruition. And so I'm prioritizing that right now unless a greater priority pops up. And at 1.5, we're not even for just another piece of property.

No. With all due respect, though, the chances of buying land where we want it that will make it a really almost unthinkable, a large part seems to take priority over everything. So you were saying that you have the money for buying and planning and building. It seems like it's better to wait a little with the design maybe and just get the line together.

There's still not enough funding. I would if I could, if it made sense. Right now, and the timing that we need to use some of the funding, it's just not coming together. Strategic acquisition fund and all the rest, everything used up.

If you think the price is too high, better let it marinate a while.

True.

Again, we know these property owners very well. And I will say they have been great to work with and feel their pricing has been good. It's been a fair market value that we've been picking on. Given the type of...

Still marination may not be a bad thing.

Any other commissioner questions or announcements?

I have one comment. I was actually going to ask whether the city was investigating the condition of Pioneer Park.

So now I hear.

But a couple of days ago when I was there, I told Cliff that I just didn't want to go to Pioneer Park again for a while because it's really depressing. There's like five or six fruits dying and the fact that First Centennial only looks that. And then clearly Russell is working on it. I think it's a really high priority. But also when he was mentioning taking out the trees in Franklin, it would be really useful for the community to know about this.

Absolutely.

Because there is, I mean, I now feel better knowing that he's looking at it. But for my community members walking there and seeing dying trees, and seeing all the street trees going out, you know, on the website or a sign to explain what's going on. You know, the city knows the city's working on it.

We would absolutely do outreach before trees are removed.

No, not before trees are removed, but just, yes, before trees are removed, but Even on the website to say there is something going on. We're working on it. Anything else?

All right. Our next meeting is next Wednesday at 6 o'clock. Plaza conference room at City Hall. And then tentatively we are off for three months and we will meet here again on September 9th at six o'clock.