Landmarks
Commission Should Not Designate Trees, Staff Concludes |
By Lookout Staff
December 10 -- City staff is recommending that the Landmarks
Commission deny landmark designation for the ficus tress on 2nd
and 4th streets Downtown when it takes up the controversial issue
Monday night.
In a 10-page report, staff concluded that such groupings of trees are “typical”
in Santa Monica and that the trees “are not historically significant for
their relationship to the cultural, social, economic, political or architectural
history of the Central Business District.”
”Based on the research and evaluation of the mature Ficus trees. . .
it appears that neither grouping of trees, in whole or in part, meet the designation
criteria,” staff wrote of the trees along the two streets between Colorado
Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.
The trees, staff wrote, “are a highly common street tree type as the
second most prevalent tree in Santa Monica, and the row of trees . . . are not
unique or rare, individually or as a group with their existing linear canopies,
nor do they have any specific historical importance in association with an important
person or event.”
Opponents of the City’s plan to compost or relocate the 75 mature ficus
and palm trees as part of an $8.2 million streetscape project are hoping the
Landmarks Commission disagrees with staff and determines that the trees have
historical significance.
If the commission fails to designate the trees, Treesavers, the fledgling group
formed to oppose the City’s plan, can either appeal the decision to the
City Council or revive the lawsuit it filed to halt the axe.
The group took its motion for a preliminary injunction off the docket in late
October when City officials decided to accept the group’s
application to declare the trees along the streets city landmarks.
If the Landmarks Commission sides with Treesavers and declare the entire rows
of trees along each of the two streets as landmarks, it is likely the City Council
would overturn the unprecedented decision.
City officials -- who have been negotiating with State and Federal agencies
funding the project in an effort to ensure the funding is not jeopardized by
the delays and potential changes in the plan -- have indicated they plan to
move forward with the plan.
The improvement project covers eight Downtown blocks and includes installing
139 new Ginkgo trees, removing 54 existing ficus trees, adding decorative up-lighting
to the remaining ficus trees and repairing sidewalks or curbs damaged by the
trees.
The project also calls for enlarging tree wells, installing new pedestrian
lighting to illuminate sidewalk areas, enhancing six mid-block crosswalks and
adding accessibility improvements for the handicapped.
Of more than 180 street trees in the project area, 106 trees will remain. Thirty-one
ficus trees and 21 palm trees will be removed and replanted elsewhere
in the city.
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