16 Item - Tree Canopy, Private Tree Ordinance, and Development Impact Fees Councilmembers Brock & de la Torre request that the City Manager evaluate various commercial development impact fees and best practices in American cities for tree replacement that can be implemented. In addition, a timeline for further discussion of the private tree ordinance will be established, and best efforts will be made to increase the public tree canopy in Santa Monica.
Background
Maintaining a sustainable community is one of our City Council's top five priorities. It is widely acknowledged that planting more trees is a perfect active response to that priority, mandating real action that will benefit the city for decades and decades to come. Our shrinking tree canopy is an economic and environmental justice issue and a matter of equity in our city. Santa Monica has accepted climate change and global warming as facts; our resilience to climate change is crucial. The percentage of tree canopy in certain areas of Santa Monica may also be a vestige of our community’s racist past. As a city, Santa Monica must focus on eliminating potential heat islands and expanding the pollution-shrinking effects of additional forestation.