Upon receiving the field inspection report and any requested recommendations concerning the application, the City Forester shall issue a permit after the application and application fee and the permit deposit fee are filed with the City Forester’s office for the removal or relocation of trees or clearing; if the criteria set out in subsection (a) are met, and provided that none of the conditions set forth under subsection (b) exist; and provided that all the criteria of this Chapter are met including the relocation or replacement of trees as set out in Section 1025.10.
(a) Criteria for Removal.
(1) The tree is located in an area where a structure or improvements will be placed according to an approved plan or the drip line of the tree is within the confines of the structure or improvement.
(2) The tree unreasonably restricts the economic enjoyment of the property, and the tree cannot be relocated on the site because of age, type or size of the tree.
(3) The tree is diseased, injured, in danger of falling too close to existing or proposed structures, interferes with existing or proposed utility service, creates unsafe visual clearance or conflicts with other ordinances or regulations.
(4) The removal is necessary in order to install proper drainage systems.
(b) Professional evaluations. The City Forester shall consider significant adverse impact in the following areas on the urban and natural environment in granting a permit, and shall deny the permit if one or more of the following conditions exists:
(1) Ground and surface water stablization. The removal will substantially alter the water table adversely with regard to water assimilation by vegetation, transpiration, and the evaporation potential of associated soils and bodies of water.
(2) Water quality or aquifer recharge. The removal will substantially lessen the ability for the natural assimilation of nutrients, chemical pollutants, heavy metals, silt and other noxious substances from ground and surface waters.
(3) Ecological impacts. The removal will have a substantial adverse impact upon existing biological and ecological systems, microclimatic conditions which directly affect these systems, or such removals will create conditions which may adversely affect the dynamic equilibrium of associated systems.
(4) Noise pollution. The removal will significantly increase ambient noise levels to the degree that a nuisance is anticipated to occur or that a violation of the City’s noise ordinance is anticipated to occur.
(5) Air movement. The removal will significantly reduce the ability of the existing vegetation to reduce wind velocities to the degree that a nuisance is anticipated to occur.
(6) Air quality. The removal will significantly affect the natural cleaning of the atmosphere by vegetation through particulate matter interception or the release of oxygen to the atmosphere as a byproduct of photosynthesis.
(7) Wildlife habitat. The removal will significantly reduce available habitat for wildlife existence and reproduction or result in the emigration of wildlife from adjacent or associated ecosystems.
(8) Aesthetic degradation. The removal will have an adverse effect on property values in the neighborhood where the applicant’s property is located.
(9) Screening of adjacent properties. The removal will reduce the buffering or screening to the abutting property under a minimum of eighty percent (80%) summer opacity and sixty percent (60%) winter opacity, when viewed from two (2) to ten (10) feet above the adjacent ground level from the abutting property.
(c) Basis for denial. The City Forester, upon a determination that an application is to be denied, shall state the basis for such denial specifically and shall notify the applicant of the criteria upon which said denial is predicated.
(Ord. 2001-33. Passed 9-17-01.)