Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise,
"Administrative cost" shall mean 20 percent of the Department's actual replacement cost, or a minimum of $100, whichever is greater.
"City" shall mean the City and County of San Francisco.
"Community Boards" of San Francisco shall mean the neighborhood mediation/dispute settlement service established under the auspices of The Community Board Program, Inc.
"Department" shall mean the Department of Public Works of the City.
"Director" shall mean the Director of Public Works or the Director's designee, which shall include the Urban Forester or other departmental staff.
"Ex officio" shall mean a current employee of any City department, or California or federal agency whose appointment to the Urban Forestry Council has been approved by the Director of the Department of the Environment.
"Hazard tree" shall mean any tree that poses an imminent hazard to person or property. The Director may determine that a tree is a hazard if it or any part of it: (1) appears dead, dangerous, or likely to fall, even after proper maintenance activities are performed to eliminate dead or dangerous parts; (2) obstructs or damages a street, sidewalk, or other existing structure; (3) harbors a serious disease or infestation threatening the health of other trees; (4) interferes with vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or (5) poses any other significant hazard or potential hazard, as determined by the Director; provided, however, that feasible measures have been applied to abate any such hazard, such as applicable Maintenance activities as defined in this Section 802. The Director's determination shall be in writing.
“Injure” or “injury” shall mean any act which harms or damages a tree, including but not limited to excessive pruning, impact, cutting, carving, painting, transplanting, or knocking over, and includes but is not limited to the following: injurious attachment of any rope, wire, nail, advertising poster, or other contrivance to any tree subject to the provisions of this Article 16; intentionally or negligently allowing any gaseous, liquid, or solid substance that is harmful to a tree to come into contact with a tree; setting fire or intentionally or negligently permitting any fire to burn when such fire or the heat therefrom will injure any part of any tree; pruning which in and of itself will kill or cause a tree to decline; or severing of all or part of a tree.
"In-lieu fee" shall mean a fee deposited into the Adopt-A-Tree Fund and imposed by the Director. The in-lieu fee shall be equal to the replacement value of a tree(s) to be removed or trees that have been destroyed or as otherwise specified in Section 811. In the case of trees required to be planted by Section 805 or 806, yet excused by the Director through a waiver or modification, the In-lieu fee shall be equal to the City's cost to plant and water a tree for three years. The minimum In-lieu fee shall be $1,489.00. Beginning with fiscal year 2007-2008, this fee shall be reviewed and adjusted each year in accordance with the procedures set forth in Public Works Code Section 2.1.2.
"Interested San Francisco organization" shall mean a San Francisco organization or individual that has made a written request to the Department for notification of proposed tree removals in a specified area(s) or neighborhood(s).
"Landmark Tree" shall mean a tree so designated pursuant to Section 810 of this Article 16.
"Landscape Material" shall mean any tree, shrub, groundcover or other plant.
“Maintenance” shall mean those actions necessary to promote the life, growth, health, or beauty of a tree. Maintenance includes both routine and major activities. “Routine Maintenance” shall include adequate watering to ensure the tree’s growth and sustainability; weed control; removal of tree-well trash; staking; fertilizing; routine adjustment and timely removal of stakes, ties, tree guards, and tree grates; bracing; and sidewalk repairs related to the tree’s growth or root system. “Major Maintenance” shall include structural pruning as necessary to maintain public safety and to sustain the health, safety, and natural growth habit of the tree; pest and disease-management procedures as needed and in a manner consistent with public health and ecological diversity; replacement of dead or damaged trees. Pruning practices shall be in compliance with International Society of Arboriculture Best Management Practices and ANSI Pruning Standards, whichever is more protective of tree preservation, or any equivalent standard or standards selected by the Director.
"Median Strip" shall mean the dividing area in the public way between opposing lanes of vehicular traffic.
"Notice" shall mean written notice by personal delivery or by mailing, either by letter or postal card, postage prepaid to the last known address as the same appears on the City's most recent assessment rolls.
"Person" shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organization of any kind.
"Planting" shall mean putting or setting into the ground or into a container to grow and irrigating until self-sufficient.
"Removal" shall mean any intentional or negligent moving, carrying away, elimination or taking away of part or all of a tree.
"Replacement Value" shall mean the actual cost to the Department of replacing a tree or landscape material removed or destroyed with a comparable size and species of tree or with comparable landscape material. Certain trees or landscape material, because of their size, species or historical significance, cannot be replaced from available nursery stock. In such case, "replacement value" shall be determined pursuant to the valuation formula adopted by the International Society of Arboriculture, as amended from time to time, plus the Department's actual costs to replace the tree. "Replacement value" shall include the Department's administrative costs.
"Sidewalk" shall mean the area between the curbing and the abutting private property lot line, whether paved or unpaved, as legislated by the Board of Supervisors and as reflected in the Department's official maps.
"Significant Tree" shall mean a tree so defined in Section 810A of this Article.
"Street" shall mean the vehicular travel-way portion of any public street, avenue, boulevard, lane, road, parkway, freeway, or other public way.
“Street Tree” shall mean any tree growing within the public right-of-way, including unimproved public streets and sidewalks, and any tree growing on land under the jurisdiction of the Department. “Street Tree” does not include any other forms of landscaping.
“Tree” shall mean any perennial, woody or fibrous plant species of cultivar, which reaches a height exceeding 10 feet at maturity, and which supports a branched or un-branched leaf canopy.
"Urban Forest" shall mean all trees on public streets and right-of-ways within the borders of the City and County of San Francisco, any trees growing on land subject to the jurisdiction of the Department, and any other trees subject to the provisions of this Article 16.
"Urban Forestry Council" shall mean the Urban Forestry Council as established under the Environment Code Chapter 12.
(Added by Ord. 165-95, App. 5/19/95; amended by Ord. 294-98, File No. 98-0991, Eff. 11/2/98; Ord. 17-06, File No. 051458, App. 1/20/2006; Ord. 193-06, File No. 060778, App. 7/21/2006; Ord. 119-15
, File No. 150221, App. 7/15/2015, Eff. 8/14/2015; Ord. 245-17, File No. 170985, App. 12/22/2017, Eff. 1/21/2018)