Tree Streets in Name Only?
North Laguna streets from Cedar to Hawthorne and High Drive to Cypress are fondly called the “Tree Streets.” Real estate ads tout the value and prestige of living there. But will that description soon refer just to the names on the street signs and not to real trees?
The Design Review Board was considering a new house at 309 Hawthorne during its Aug. 22 meeting. The property is treed with a cluster of Canary Island date palms. “I don’t have a problem with removing those trees,” Design Review Boardmember Tom Gibbs said. “I think they’re ugly. I think they’re dirty. There (were) trees on my street (Aster) that were like that. They were removed. No one complained.”
Don Bren would envy these magnificent Canary Island date palms and surely preserve them if he had them on any of his projects. Bren’s Irvine Company planted the same (but not as tall) palms at the grand entrance to Fashion Island. In the lot on Hawthorne, they form a fitting entrance to that neighborhood and complement the historical cottage across the street, their stature testifying to the age and heritage of the neighborhood.
The applicants proposed removing two of the five palms—but no one on the city staff noticed they existed. The staff report said the site had no significant features, and all city policies had been complied with. What about the land use element policy that says significant trees should be preserved? Or the landscape and scenic highways plan that states that large trees such as palms (and others) should be protected?
The Design Review Board in place now is better than the one several years ago, which seemed highly influenced by former councilmember Peter Blake. At that time, experienced board members like Caren Liuzzi and Meg Monahan were replaced by new ones who seemed most interested in approving applicants’ plans as soon as possible. That, combined with staff turnover (also influenced by the former regime), has led to less than thorough staff reports and repetitive staff recommendations to approve projects without proper consideration of city policies.
The board is supposed to review plans for compliance with city policies, not to base comments on what they like or don’t like. If the adopted policy says to save significant trees, that’s what the board is supposed to do, whether they like those trees or not – unless saving the tree(s) in question would prevent reasonable use of the property. But if staff doesn’t report all the applicable policies and doesn’t correctly outline the board’s options to approve or disapprove some aspect of the proposal, the board is left struggling.
In this case, they asked for guidance on whether they had any say over the proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), which is proposed to be entirely subterranean except for one window. One window for an 800-square-foot supposed living area! The city attorney seemed uncertain but fell back on the usual—it’s state law that the board doesn’t have discretion over ADUs. But what about health and safety? Isn’t the city allowed to ensure that the ADU will be safe to live in? And why would it be wrong for the board to raise that issue? In addition, a tandem garage was proposed above the ADU. The board has the discretion to allow or disallow the tandem garage and require the usual two-car garage with vehicles side by side. If they do that, it could affect the design of the ADU below and the house. Repositioning the garage and the ADU could even be done in conjunction with preservation of all the palm trees. This is what the Design Review Board is supposed to enforce the criteria, recognize opportunities for a better solution for the people living in the house and the ADU, for the neighborhood, and preserve the village character and community resources—in this case, the trees. The project will be reviewed again on Nov. 14 for minor adjustments, but the board’s job is to recognize when it’s time to instruct the applicant to go back to the drawing board for major changes.
Then “tree streets,” “village character” and “design review” would not just be names. They would be for real.
Ann Christoph is a former mayor, city councilmember and current member of the Village Laguna and South Laguna Civic Association boards.
