| Board of Public Works
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
The Oak Tree Permit for the removal of 510 oak trees was once again on the
Public Works calendar. It was continued over from March 31, 2004.
The count of trees to be removed has now been raised from 510 to 940. The
board had ordered BFI to recount the trees in light of the discrepancies. BFI
had also been trying to get credit for trees already planted for the County
expansion. The Board was told previously that if BFI gets their permit
they will try to remove trees as soon as possible because they will not be
permitted to do so once the migratory birds have started their nesting season.
Remember that the 510 oaks or even the 940 only represented those 8-inches or
more in diameter. There could be thousands of oak trees smaller than that,
and they wouldn’t even count. As you can see, if Public Works approved
this permit the potential impacts to the flora and fauna, not to mention us, is
far greater than the public knew.
At the end of the hearing BFI was granted their Oak Tree Permit for the
removal of 940 oaks after the City Attorney opined that they could only consider
the permit and nothing else, and that they had no power or discretion to
consider or place conditions on the permit. The Board refused to hear
environmentalists who poked holes in their mitigation plans, and decried the
loss of trees, birds, and wildlife. They also refused to hear serious issues
raised by the NVC regarding BFI’s misrepresentations regarding when they knew
there were more than the 510 oaks they originally applied for, their plan to
start clearing trees immediately which will endanger birds during the current
nesting season, and that oaks planted as mitigation on City land for the loss of
County oaks were in danger. They also failed to condition their approval to
insure that BFI had obtained all the necessary permits and satisfied all
requirements of the Q-Conditions and the Mitigation Reporting Monitoring Program
(MRMP).
BFI immediately began a program of clearing the native and non-native species
the very next morning starting with the willows in the stream bed and
endangering the nesting birds (as we said they would). Still not satisfied with
gaining their permit and the rape of the land, BFI now is contesting how much
they have to pay the City for their Oak Tree Permit.
On an upbeat note, Supervisor Antonovich and County Planning issued BFI a
warning that County mitigation trees on City land are protected and if BFI
touches them they will be in violation of their County operating permit. | 