STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
October 28, 2025
BUSINESS
22 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC TREE MAINTENANCE PRACTICES RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council:
1. Continue the July 22, 2025 presentation from staff regarding public tree maintenance practices;
2. Discuss the City’s approach to public trees, public tree maintenance practices, and provide further direction to staff regarding next steps or potential policy considerations; and
3. Find that the recommended action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to Section 15378(b)(5) of the CEQA Guidelines.
SUMMARY OF THE MATTER
This report provides an overview of the presentation provided to City Council during the July 22, 2025 Study Session (Attachment 1) and the resulting discussion. The presentation described the strategies employed by the Public Works & Utilities Department to manage a network of approximately 3,300 public trees in parks, medians, sidewalks, and other public spaces. Due to time constraints during the July 22, 2025 Study Session, Council’s discussion was not completed. City staff is available to continue the discussion and address any additional questions regarding these practices.
1. DISCUSSION
Overview:
The Public Works & Utilities Department maintains approximately 3,300 public trees using a proactive and structured inspection and pruning cycle, managed by the City Arborist and guided by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 pruning standards, International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Best Management Practices, and the Landscape and Scenic Highways Resource Document (LSHRD). All public trees are generally inspected and pruned on a biennial cycle (once every 2 years). The City is divided into three maintenance sections: Downtown (pruned annually), North, and South (the latter two pruned in alternating years). This ensures that every public tree is inspected and pruned at least once every two years between October and June, with some species receiving annual pruning regardless of section.
The City Arborist ensures that public trees are pruned for the purpose of encouraging healthy growth, tree preservation, and hazard/risk mitigation by utilizing several professional pruning strategies that conform to ANSI A300 standards, including crown cleaning, crown thinning, crown raising, crown restoration, clearance pruning, crown reduction, and structural pruning. Crown reduction is a deliberate, structured method reserved for specific circumstances, such as mitigating risk in declining trees or resolving unavoidable conflicts. Tree "topping" is avoided on healthy public trees as it is a non-standard practice that can significantly reduce tree health and increase the likelihood of future branch failure.
Discussion:
Staff’s presentation at the July 22, 2025, Study Session resulted in several public comments and discussion by the Council that highlighted issues for further consideration.
DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC TREE MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
October 28, 2025
Central to this discussion was a perceived discrepancy between the City's policy for public tree maintenance and the requirements for certain private trees under Laguna Beach Municipal Code (LBMC) Chapter 12.16 View Preservation and Restoration. Residents voiced concerns that there is a lack of a formal mechanism for view-based pruning of publicly maintained trees, leading to a loss of valuable scenic views, due to exemptions for City maintained vegetation under LBMC 12.16.080.
The distinction in these policies primarily centers on the City's obligation for public safety and risk management. Because the City cannot practically restrict public access to rights-of-way, parks, and other public areas surrounding public trees, staff’s tree maintenance approach prioritizes structural integrity and long-term tree health. Pruning methods requested solely for view enhancement, such as inappropriate crown reduction or topping, are generally inconsistent with professional arboriculture standards. These nonstandard practices run counter to the tree's natural mechanisms; create large, vulnerable wounds; and lead to the rapid growth of weakly attached shoots to decaying wood. Consequently, performing view-based pruning significantly increases the likelihood of branch failures and other hazards. This, in turn, elevates the City’s exposure to liability by intentionally introducing defects into a public asset located in an area of unrestricted public use. Thus, the maintenance standards are primarily driven by the imperative to mitigate risk and preserve a safe public environment.
This issue is particularly noted with mature trees, such as the tall Eucalyptus trees adjacent to the Glenneyre Parking Structure and along South Coast Highway adjacent to the Montage resort. A distinction was clarified between these specific Eucalyptus groves. The trees adjacent to the Glenneyre Parking Structure are public trees, managed under the Public Works & Utilities Department. Conversely, the mature Eucalyptus trees in front of the Montage are classified as privately maintained public trees with specific maintenance guidelines to ensure their long-term preservation. The City Arborist’s role is to ensure the guidelines are adhered to.
Ultimately, the discussion pointed to the broader need for a comprehensive, long-term Urban Forestry Master Plan to guide the City's public tree care and maintenance program. In July 2024, the City Arborist secured $100,000 of federal grant funding to help fund this process, and staff is in the process of issuing an RFP to solicit proposals for several services needed for the development of an Urban Forestry Master Plan.
Key Questions for Discussion
Key questions for the Council and community members may include, but not be limited to:
1. Given the City’s written policies, including approaches within the General Plan (see references to these policies in the staff report that is Attachment A to this staff report), what would the pathways be to change our tree maintenance approach if the Council so desired – i.e., should the policies and plans be amended before real time practices can be changed?
2. There is some sense that our current practices – which for argument’s sake are considered lighter trims – are different from years ago, when our plans and policies were the same – but the trimming was more moderate than light. What is staff’s and the community’s perspective on whether this is so?
3. Let’s say that Council wants to stay consistent with the written policies, but also direct an approach that encourages more comprehensive / moderate trimming than may be done today – how would that work,
DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC TREE MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
October 28, 2025
and would that work within existing policies?
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
The recommended actions have no financial impact to the budget at this time
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
The recommended action consists of organizational or administrative activities of the City that will not result in a direct or indirect physical change in the environment and therefore does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act. (Public Resources Code Section 21065; 14 CCR Section 15378(b)(5).)
ATTACHMENTS
1. July 22, 2025 Study Session Staff Report (Pgs. 4-7)
Submitted By: Mark McAvoy Approved: .David A Kiff
Mark McAvoy, Director of Public
Works & Utilities
Dave Kiff, City Manager
Report Prepared By: Coordinated With:
Matthew Barker, City Arborist Reza Jafari, Deputy Director/ Public Services