Meetings/20190225

San Mateo Protected Tree Ordinance, PMAC response

Monday, February 25 2019 Casey and San Mateo Arborist re upcoming changes to Tree permits ( hence CalFire Fuel Reduction complexity: PMAC )

San Mateo County is in the process of updating their tree ordinance. Given population and engagement levels the interim document addresses the constraints of the BaySide communities more than the Coast Side.

At the last 2 PMAC meetings this came to a bit of a frothy head, with County staffers being accused of ignoring the reality of the Coastside community environments, and shirking their duties as public servants.

the county folks responded with a request for guided tours of the coast side WUI hamlets, with their arborists so they could incorporate the issues into the next writing round. essentially "put up or shut up."

Casey, working as both PMAC and BCERT/Fire Grant guy, met with some County folks and Loma-Mar / San Gregario / La Honda people to give an issues tour.

goals

Casey is pushing for

• different tree girth values for coastside rules. This would re-instate an older set of rules which had differing numbers for east or west of Skyline
• removal of tree-replacement fees for coastside hamlets. ( we don't have room for more trees, most likely ) Sort of a bio-regionalism.
• redwood trimming being a special case

Colleagues were pushing for

• more clear communication about the role of PG&E
• burying power lines
• what do do about extensive maintenance due to PG&E 'whacking' - why should a home owner bear the administrative burden of fixing/felling these trees?
• clarification on the extent of Scenic Routs ( there are special rules for this )
• clarification on the role of other agencies: Coastal Comission, CalFire, Parks, etc.
• differences between RM and RA (?) zoning and permits

Discussion looked positive for the second and third of those points, which was encouraging.

Notes:

• The County folks said that trimming redwoods wasn't really what they were thinking about when they were revising the current regs. They will try to make that clear
• from their observations, a lot of the undergrowth can be taken w/out permits
• PG&E is starting / has started a 'surface hardening' program where they will be returning to areas where they were called out to trim/whack, and to correct & extend the trimming. They are supposed to contact each effected property owner. ( the Loma Mar people who have had sets of redwoods simply topped, essentially killing the trees, were pretty happy to hear they wern't going to have to go through the permitting process to fix this problem )
• their arborist expressed real doubt about a selective commercial harvesting program in these areas providing enough revenue to even pay for itself, let alone simultaneous brush/undergrowth reduction.
• they really want people to read these proposals
• CalFire designations don't automatically trump the county rules. Beyond that there are other agencies involved. CalFire Fire Marshal hazard designations are applied on a tree-by-tree basis; not by lot/acre.
  • much of Butano is riparian, which is an additional set of rules, and about half is within the Coast Comission's oversight. Also, nesting. Aside from nesting our cojoining communities don't have these issues.
• telling comment from one of the county folks: "It's expensive to live in paradise"
• another one: "making these places 'fire safe' would spoil their appeal"
• they had heard that Cleopatra Tuday from SMRCD was out here talking to us, and approved.

result

They will use the PMAC forum as the place to discuss resulting changes. The offer of using the Loma Mar store to get community engagement was turned down. They have an upcoming session to focus on fire safety with Rich S, et. al. Not sure when that is or if it's a public forum.