Promenade Trees Slated for Costly Removal

By Teresa Rochester

Something is wrong with as many as 60 of the stately Jacaranda trees lining the Third Street Promenade.

They're slowly falling over. And fixing the problem will likely run the City an estimated $400,000, or roughly $6,000 to $10,000 a tree.

"It's just a tragedy. We're devastated about it," said Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corporation, which oversees the Promenade.

Problems with the trees - which were planted 11 years ago -- began to crop up this summer. But it wasn't until two weeks ago that City officials realized the extent of the problem, which may have been caused when the trees were planted at the wrong depth.

The City has identified 41 trees that will have to come down in the next 12 to 18 months and one already has been removed. Another 20 trees may have to be replaced during the next several years.

"We identified 10 that need to be replaced right now because they're lifting so significantly," said Barbara Stinchfield, head of the City's Cultural and Community Resources division. "So our plan is to replace 10 to 12 immediately, then over a period of years look at the others and see how they're doing and come up with a plan that's preventive."

Stinchfield's office oversees the City's community forester, Walter Warriner, who was unavailable for comment.

Officials say they are working to get to the root cause of the trees' demise and looking for ways to fund the extensive and expensive project.

"We have a real big problem. We don't know where the money is coming from," Rawson told Bayside's board of directors at a meeting last week. "It's a lot of money."

"It's substantial," Gretchen Kubaky of the City's Resource Management office told the group.

Kubaky told the board that replacing the ailing trees could cost close to $10,000 a tree, which would include $6,500 per tree plus irrigation, concrete finish and the removal of the old tree. Stinchfield estimated the cost at $6,000 per tree, which includes maintenance for the first two years.

The initial $400,000 estimated price tag is almost half of Bayside's annual operating budget. Rawson is hoping the project and its costs will be spread out over time.

Jeff Mathieu, director of Resource Management, said there are several options for what he called a "preventive maintenance schedule." Like Rawson and Stinchfield, Mathieu is advocating an incremental approach.

The money could come from several sources including a recurring maintenance account the City funds for the Bayside District, Mathieu said. He added that there also is a capital budget for the Promenade, since the project was completed on time and under budget.

The Jacarandas, natives of Brazil and Argentina, were specifically selected when the City launched its ambitious renovation of the outside mall. There are between 850 and 860 Jacarandas in the City. The trees - which also were planted on Pico Boulevard last year - are known for their canopies that softly dapple light and shade.

Eleven years ago when the trees were purchased some of them were already 17 to 20 years old, Rawson said. She added that urban trees can live to be 60 years old but that "they're nowhere near that."

Everyone agrees that there are a variety of reasons the naturally crooked trees are beginning to precariously tilt. The popular theory is that the trees were planted either too deep or not deep enough, causing them to pitch forward over time.

"It appears to be not the best of approaches in design and how they were planted," said Mathieu, adding that before its revitalization the Promenade was a regular city street. "They're a product of their success. They took off in that little bit of space."

"Some of them are lifting. Maybe there wasn't enough soil used when they were planted," said Stinchfield. "The species tends to lift. Jacarandas tend to grow crooked. That's one variable.

"His [Warriner's] hunch is that they were installed too low or sunk below grade because of the way they were put in," Stinchfield said. "But nature is nature and it's probably a number of factors."

The Jacarandas may also have been planted wrong in the containers they came in. Rawson said that at the time the trees were purchased the industry standards for nursery trees were being rewritten and have since been improved.

A number of the trees, which can grow to between 30 to 40 feet tall, bear wounds. They could have been hurt by cuts or hit by objects.

Mathieu said it would be impossible to know for sure what's wrong with the Jacarandas until some of them are removed. A study of the trees is expected to be undertaken in the near future.

"They don't look dead," said Rawson. "They look tilted and really fragile. Most people can tell a dead tree. Our Jacarandas are fragile."

Jorge Casuso contributed to this report.