The intent and purpose of this article are as follows:
(a) To implement the goals and policies of the Scenic Highways Element of the General Plan, which applies to a specific system of highways as designated in that element;
(b) To establish provisions of law which serve to promote a uniform City beautification program in public rights-of-way with the installation of street trees, landscaped median islands and parkways, and other landscape architectural features;
(c) To protect and enhance the visual character of the streets and highways in the City, with particular attention being given to landscaping and the materials used within the roadways themselves, and to provide implementation methods for achieving this objective;
(d) To acknowledge that trees and other plant materials, by means of their shape, texture, color, and shadow effect, give people a sense of closer contact with nature within the urban environment;
(e) To acknowledge that trees and other vegetation ameliorate the effects of air pollution through the absorption of air contaminants, reduce glare, and attenuate traffic noise, thus making the highway environment more pleasant for both residents and visitors of the City;
(f) To recognize that landscape treatment in the public rights-of-way imparts important physical, functional, economic, and aesthetic benefits to the
community and that the presence of trees and other vegetation, as well as distinctive ornamental streetscape design features, can enhance the visual identity of the City and thus improve the overall quality of the environment;
(g) To promote and enhance scenic highway distinction and identity by developing and maintaining highway landscape themes;
(h) To provide for median and parkway landscaping as new development occurs adjacent to scenic highways;
(i) To provide a policy, where development exists, that provisions be made for parkway and median improvements, including landscaping or other special treatment of public rights-of-way; and
(j) To recognize that, as street trees mature along with increased population and urbanization and increased potential for liability, there is a need to have policies which guide decisions regarding proposed removal and replacement of street trees.
(§ I, Ord. 549-NS, eff. November 13, 1975, as amended by § 1, Ord. 1372-NS, eff. February 8, 2001)
* Section 7-2.901 entitled “Planting trees and other plants,” recodified from Section 11350, T.O.O.C., as added by Ordinance No. 50, amended by Section I, said Ordinance No. 549-NS.