November 11, 1998

The bigger they are...

When I was growing up, the black walnut tree in our back yard gave us shade. It gave us a place to climb, and get indelible stains on our clothes. It was where my brother built a tree house. My family thought highly of that tree. When the Russian lady who bought the house cut it and sold it for hardwood lumber, my parents took it personally, even though it wasn't theirs any longer.

There's been a lot of back and forth in the Tribune since Sept. about a large, old (one letter said 1912!) street tree in Sharp Park. Mistakes have been made, corrected, apologized for, opinions given and rebutted. The trouble with heritage trees is, in Pacifica they're probably Monterey Cypresses or Monterey Pines. Some misguided folks want to add Eucalyptus. Let's not get into that.

The heritage tree ordinance, in a mistaken effort to be objective, specifies a heritage tree only by size, specifically 50 inches in circumference 24 inches above the ground. Montereys are the fastest growing pines in the world. The tree you plant at his birth becomes a heritage tree about when your child votes. These trees don't live long, however. Thousands are aging in Pacifica. In Vallemar, Sharp Park and the golf course they're getting senile. They're over the hill. A senile tree, like a senile dog, needs help. The dog is put to sleep. The tree needs to be carefully removed, in small pieces, paying close attention to gravity. That Sharp Park tree was supposedly worth about $33,000. To put that in perspective, in 1958 the fanciest house in Sharp Park, Sam's Castle, was bought for about $29,000.

The castle will give folks pleasure many more years. The tree, if left to age, may crash on a nearby home. At that time those who fought against its removal will start talking about acts of God so they won't be sued. Nonsense! When any tree is planted near a house, that tree will eventually be cut into manageable pieces by highly trained, very expensive tree surgeons, or it may fall onto houses, garages, power lines, or all of the above.

When the small shopping center behind my property planted Monterey Cypresses, they set just such a situation in motion. Originally the trees were cheap and small. They grew large. When I pointed out the danger to my home, the shopping center management removed some trees and topped others. The effort cost big bucks and went on for days. Though not even 25 years old, those were "heritage" trees. Permits had to be bought. All the neighbors (including me) had to be notified and given a veto. The problem could have been avoided by planting slower growing, naturally smaller trees in the first place.

All over Pacifica other inappropriate trees, like that "$33,000" tree in Sharp Park, threaten homes, break up sidewalks, and create nuisances. If you're planning landscaping on your property, think ahead. Plant a tree only where there's plenty of room for it to grow, age, and fall safely fifty years from now. The law of gravity can't be repealed. Ignore it at your peril.

Paul Azevedo has been around Pacifica long enough to plant Monterey Pines in his own front yard and regret what he now calls "a dumb mistake."