Below is the letter that is being voted on by the board of the Winn Park/Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association (for those unfamiliar with WPCANA, we are the neighborhoods between K and R Street from 19th to 29th, recently adding a few blocks around Fremont Park to its area. The policy shift doesn't actually streamline the planning process--it moves responsibility from Parks & Recreation to Development Services, and changes the appeal body from Parks & Recreation Commission to Planning Commission, but doesn't actually take out any steps. It has not yet been approved (emails are still coming in) but I expect it to pass, and join letters by NBNA and other neighborhood groups in formally opposing this change in regulation.

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December 8, 2008

Mayor Kevin Johnson
New City Hall
921 I Street 5th Floor
Sacramento, CA 905814

Re: Proposal to Move Tree Appeals to Planning Commission

Dear Mayor Johnson,

The WPCANA board is opposed to moving the appeal process for the removal of any trees from the Parks and Recreation Commission to the Planning Commission.

Under the change that is currently being proposed, the Development Services Manager and his staff would be able to approve the removal of city trees at any time that a developer wants this done. The public would then have to appeal the approval to the Planning Commission instead of to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Planning staff and the Planning Commission have no expertise with regard to trees and no basis for making reasonable decisions about them. The Central City has already lost far too many healthy trees to development projects and this change will make it much easier for developers to remove still more healthy trees. This is not a responsible way to treat the great legacy that these trees represent.

The draft 2030 General Plan talks about livability and sustainability as major goals. Trees are key to both and Sacramento has been blessed by having a great number of majestic trees planted and preserved over the last century. They provide necessary shade and make our hot summers much more livable. They help clean our dirty air, provide oxygen, sequester carbon and reduce the need for air conditioning. Sacramento should be looking for ways to preserve more of our trees, not creating new policies that make it easier to remove them. We owe it to future residents to do for them in planting, protecting and continuing Sacramento’s heritage of trees what was done for us.

Sincerely,

Matt Piner, Chair
Winn Park Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association

Cc: Ray Kerridge