RES 2025054 - Laserfiche WebLink

URBAN FOREST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES student zones (Green Schoolyards America 2024). The City hasn't previously worked with schools for tree planting, so City staff would need to set aside a significant amount of time to conduct outreach to the seven schools within the targeted neighborhoods, as well as to research grants that may be available to these schools such as the Green Schoolyards grant program (See Appendix E). In addition to having schools plant trees on school property, the City may be able to purchase additional trees for the schools that the teachers could then give away to their students for planting in the yards of the student's homes. Opportunities for More Residential Front Yard Trees A third strategy that the City may consider is implementing a front yard ordinance that would require residents to plant and maintain at least one tree in their residential front yards. While the City encourages its residents to voluntarily plant and maintain trees in their front yards, a stronger approach could be taken with a front yard ordinance, but this may come with pushback from the community. The City of Hayward currently has requirements in their Zoning Ordinance under the Minimum Design Standards section 10-1.204 that each front yard and side street yard have a minimum of one 15 -gallon tree planted for low density residential, and residential natural preservation districts. Other cities such as San Jose, Temecula, and Claremont 96 1 CITY OF PLEASANTON URBAN FOREST MASTER PLAN have language in their municipal code that assigns property owners the responsibility to water and maintain the street trees that are in front of their property. Pleasanton may find that starting with a tree giveaway program paired with outreach, education on the benefits of trees, and the provision of informational materials for how to plant and care for a tree, may be a more successful strategy for getting more residents to plant trees in their front yards. If there is still a need to get more residents to plant trees on private property after this initial effort, then a front yard ordinance could be considered. Opportunities for Cost Savings from Tree Establishment A large portion ($30.7 million or 50%), of the total cost in the budget model comes from the establishment program that is recommended the City implement for newly planted trees, which would include watering and structural pruning for three years. The City, in most cases, waters newly planted trees for the first three growing seasons, but does not conduct structural pruning. Maintaining the longer watering period should result in higher survival rates for young trees that have to make it through Pleasanton's hot summers, and structural pruning can eliminate problems like co -dominant leader stems early on, which can reduce mature tree pruning costs in the future. It should be noted that the City hand - waters a little over 200 newly planted trees each year, and