From: Tony Gurnoe
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public Comment - 8/12/2026 Agenda Item 12A
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2026 4:06:31 PM
CAUTION: External Email. Do not click any links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender, verified their email address, and know the content is safe.
A quote from Mayor Ehlers during the 6/17/26 Regular City Council meeting regarding the then proposed UFAC work plan, "I'm trying to take it that it goes to staff, and staff will take it through that coordination process. We don't need all of the coordination to occur at the council level. I'd like to see it, just like it does on all the other plans, occur at the staff level first, under the monitoring of the UFAC, so when it does come for updates, as is happening with the UFMP, it would come to the council... This is where I look at that document and go 'it's kind of a planning document at a high level, which would be nice to bring back to the council but down on the procedural level I don't want it coming back to council.'" The bold emphasis is mine. As a member of the city's UFAC, but speaking just on behalf of myself, I struggle to find clarity in the direction coming clearly from our mayor, that as proposed the UFAC's work plan could encumber the council with too much fine procedural discussion needlessly taking place in a council setting when it should be and is best addressed by and within the city staff ranks, with city staff being the determining body of what requires input from the council prior to clear execution when his fellow city council members are inserting items into the council agenda which clearly can and should be coordinated with staff from a respective department, in the case of agenda item 12A that department being the city's Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Arts.
Out of a concern that this agenda item is strategically being included by select council members as a point of political manipulation in an effort to subvert the perceived public value of the UFAC, I will repeat myself from prior public comments. Please give the UFAC the opportunity to engage before you condemn that group for failing to achieve something that not only were they never tasked with (UFAC work plan item #7 was added by Mayor Ehlers and Councilmember O'Hara or Shaffer could have easily requested that this task become work plan item #8). I asked for the opportunity for the committee to be ambitious, but we are also disallowed from agendizing anything not already approved as part of our work plan. This means that because Council never asked UFAC to work on this matter, that the UFAC is functionally disallowed from doing so. Yet I have a concern that this will serve as a political football used to underscore the perceived failure of a body that was not only never asked to be involved with this matter, but disallowed from doing so by city staff.
It's not that this is the first we're hearing of this matter. Councilmember Shaffer brought this subject up during the meeting about the 26-27 UFAC work plan. Knowing that the UFAC is under great (and I would argue unreasonable) scrutiny in terms of our efficacy as a volunteer advisory committee, I took it upon myself to follow up with Councilmember Shaffer and his colleagues about this very subject, rather immediately. I will include that relevant correspondence below.
This was sent by me to Councilmember Shaffer and his colleagues on June 18th, the day after it was first brought to my attention (or that of the UFAC in any way):
"Hello Councilmember Shaffer,
Based on what you mentioned at last night's meeting pertaining to a desire to have trees provide more of a buffer between the park and the freeway, I took the liberty of sorting all of the species our recent Native Plant Ordinance defines as native based on their growth rates. I'm sending this to you and David Norgard so that he can share this information with his staff as much as it may be relevant to their decision making. I want to acknowledge that this list is solely based on growth rate and does not take into account the evolving fire-safety considerations so this will need to be further filtered by staff but I'm hopeful that it's a helpful starting point for any planting planning. I've also copied Mayor Ehlers, Deputy Mayor O'Hara, your fellow Councilmembers, and staff relevant to the UFAC just so that everybody is in the loop.
Fast-Growing Species
(Growth rate reported as Fast, Rapid, Very Fast, or Fast/Moderate) Fraxinus dipetala (California Ash)
Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon)
Lyonothamnus floribundus (Island Ironwood)
Parkinsonia florida (Blue Palo Verde)
Pinus attenuata (Knobcone Pine)
Pinus contorta (Lodgepole Pine)
Pinus jeffreyi (Jeffrey Pine)
Pinus lambertiana (Sugar Pine)
Pinus monticola (Western White Pine)
Pinus muricata (Bishop Pine)
Pinus radiata (Monterey Pine)
Pinus sabiniana (Foothill Pine)
Platanus racemosa (California Sycamore)
Populus angustifolia (Narrow Leaved Cottonwood)
Populus fremontii (Fremont Cottonwood)
Populus tremuloides (Quaking Aspen)
Populus trichocarpa (Black Cottonwood)
Prosopis glandulosa (Honey Mesquite)
Prunus emarginata (Bitter Cherry)
Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry)
Robinia neomexicana (New Mexico Locust)
Salix boothii (Booth's Willow)
Salix breweri (Brewer's Willow)
Salix exigua (Sandbar Willow)
Salix geyeriana (Geyer's Willow)
Salix gooddingii (Goodding's Black Willow)
Salix jepsonii (Jepson's Willow)
Salix laevigata (Red Willow)
Salix lasiandra (Shining Willow)
Salix lasiolepis (Arroyo Willow)
Salix lemmonii (Lemmon's Willow)
Salix lutea (Yellow Willow)
Salix orestera (Sierra Willow)
Salix scouleriana (Scouler's Willow)
Salix sitchensis (Sitka Willow)
Sambucus mexicana (Blue Elderberry)
Sambucus nigra (Black Elderberry)
Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwood)
Strombocarpa pubescens (Screwbean Mesquite)
Moderate-Growing Species
(Growth rate reported as Moderate or Moderate/Slow)
Juglans californica (Southern California Black Walnut)
Juniperus californica (California Juniper)
Prunus andersonii (Desert Peach)
Prunus emarginata (Bitter Cherry)
Prunus eremophila (Mojave Desert Plum)
Prunus fasciculata (Desert Range Almond)
Prunus fremontii (Desert Apricot)
Prunus ilicifolia (Hollyleaf Cherry)
Prunus subcordata (Klamath Plum)
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa (Bigcone Douglas Fir)
Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas Fir)
Psorothamnus spinosus (Smoke Tree)
Ptelea crenulata (Western Hoptree)
Quercus agrifolia (Coast Live Oak)
Quercus alvordiana (Alvord Oak)
Quercus berberidifolia (Scrub Oak)
Quercus chrysolepis (Canyon Live Oak)
Quercus cornelius-mulleri (Muller's Oak)
Quercus engelmannii (Engelmann Oak)
Quercus garryana (Garry's Oak)
Quercus kelloggii (Black Oak)
Quercus parvula (Shreve Oak)
Quercus tomentella (Island Oak)
Quercus wislizeni (Interior Live Oak)
Quercus X ganderi (Gander's Oak)
Rhus integrifolia (Lemonade Berry)
Salix exigua (Sandbar Willow)
Salix gooddingii (Goodding's Black Willow)
Umbellularia californica (California Laurel)
Slow-Growing Species
(Growth rate reported as Slow, Very Slow, or Slow/Moderate) Cupressus arizonica (Arizona Cypress)
Juniperus californica (California Juniper)
Olneya tesota (Desert Ironwood)
Pinus balfouriana (Foxtail Pine)
Pinus coulteri (Coulter Pine)
Pinus edulis (Twoneedle Pinyon)
Pinus flexilis (Limber Pine)
Pinus longaeva (Hickory Pine)
Pinus monophylla (Oneneedle Pinyon Pine)
Pinus quadrifolia (Parry Pinyon Pine)
Pinus sabiniana (Foothill Pine)
Prunus fasciculata (Desert Range Almond)
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa (Bigcone Douglas Fir)
Quercus agrifolia (Coast Live Oak)
Quercus alvordiana (Alvord Oak)
Quercus berberidifolia (Scrub Oak)
Quercus chrysolepis (Canyon Live Oak)
Quercus cornelius-mulleri (Muller's Oak)
Quercus douglasii (Blue Oak)
Quercus dumosa (Nuttall's Scrub Oak)
Quercus durata (Leather Oak)
Quercus kelloggii (Black Oak)
Quercus wislizeni (Interior Live Oak)
Quercus X morehus (Oracle Oak)
Sequoiadendron giganteum (Sierra Redwood)
Umbellularia californica (California Laurel)
Species with Conflicting or Variable Data
(Growth rate varies significantly across sources)
Pinus torreyana (Torrey Pine)
Platanus racemosa (California Sycamore)
Salix lasiandra (Shining Willow)
Species with No Clear Growth Rate Found
(Data on Calscape was unavailable or could not be located for these species) Fraxinus anomala (Dwarf Ash)
Fraxinus latifolia (Oregon Ash)
Fraxinus velutina (Velvet Ash)
Fraxinus velutina 'Modesto' (Modesto Ash)
Hesperocyparis forbesii (Tecate Cypress)
Hesperocyparis goveniana (Gowen Cypress)
Hesperocyparis macnabiana (McNab Cypress)
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa (Monterey Cypress)
Hesperocyparis nevadensis (Piute Cypress)
Hesperocyparis stephensonii (Cuyamaca Cypress)
Neltuma odorata (Honey Mesquite)
Pinus albicaulis (Dwarf Pine)
Populus angustifolia (Narrow Leaved Cottonwood)
Quercus cedrosensis (Cedros Island Oak)
Quercus lobata (Valley Oak)
Quercus macdonaldii (Macdonald Oak)
Quercus X acutidens (Torrey's Oak)
Salix ligulifolia (Tongueleaf Willow)
Have a nice day,"
Although the UFAC was not and has never been tasked with helping with the subject of agenda item 12A, I personally thought it important to demonstrate how eager we are to assist with anything tree related within our city that the UFAC may possibly be an informational asset for. The response that I received from city staff was as follows, summarily discouraging such proactive engagement:
"We had a quick discussion about your recent email, and I wanted to touch base with you about the process going forward. For any UFAC-related items, concerns, or general information, please send your correspondence to myself and Melissa first. We’ll make sure it gets routed to the appropriate staff, which will often include Jennifer. From there, Jennifer can forward it to Council as needed.
I completely understand your reasoning in sending the email, especially since it was directly tied to the previous night's discussion. However, I was reminded that the proper “unwritten” protocol is to share follow-up information with your staff liaisons first. This keeps everyone in the loop and ensures the information flows through the right channels." I will be honest with you that it is difficult to remain motivated to contribute whatever value I may have to our city's urban forest aspirations when our collective volunteer efforts are being assailed from multiple directions. The response from staff was entirely reasonable, if in a climate where our sitting councilmembers were not actively assailing the very same committee members for being wasteful failures.
If you think the UFAC is failing and amounts to frivolous use of city funds, be brave enough to move to end it in >4 months at the time of re-re-review. As you look the city's inaugural Urban Forester in the face for one of the first times, tell that person that you consider it a critical form of leadership to cancel that person's free 7 person part-time staff, somehow under the guise of benefiting our city's trees.
If you want feedback related to tree things, ask us to and/or allow us to be involved. While I am extremely grateful for the kind words from Councilmember Shaffer as I volunteered my valuable weekend time to set up a UFAC booth at Encinitas' EcoFest on only a few days notice, this action is offensive to the proper procedure, even as Mayor Ehlers reiterated at our most recent council meeting involving any tree matters. I am insulted, not be Councilmember Shaffer, to be clear, and I bear that insult on behalf of not just myself, not just the UFAC, not even more broadly your staff like David Norgard and Brian Sandland who I have worked closely with for several years and can assure you are entirely capable of picking and planting trees if they're simply given the prioritization and resources.
The subject of agenda item 12A is one that excites me, in case you couldn't tell from the massive list of botanical names above. The way that this is being brought to the public, intentionally betraying appropriate procedure, is something that I would have been reprimanded for and that I consider a flagrant violation of exactly the trust that I am asking you to have in me and the rest of the UFAC. Trust, verify, review, great! Exclude and blame - not leadership and not cool.
Tony Gurnoe
President & Lead Arborist
(760)815-4186
Treehugger Care and Consulting
ISA Arborist Certification #WE-14380A
Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
Certified Urban Forest Professional
CA QAL #166195
CA QWEL #CALAGCC-6683