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November 3, 1995 <br /> TO: Mayor and City Council <br /> FROM: Scott Plamondon, Urban Forester <br /> SUBJECT: Street Tree Removal Violation <br /> As requested by the Council the following is an incident report on the removal of the 47" <br /> diameter "Heritage" class Big Leaf Maple from the south -west corner of 8th Avenue and <br /> Hilyard Street. This removal was from the street - right -of -way which abutted tax lot #17- <br /> 03 -32 -23 -0900, the future site of a McDonald's restaurant. <br /> At approximately one pm on the afternoon of Friday the 13th, the Urban Forester's <br /> office received a call informing us of the removal of a very large tree. On arriving at the <br /> site it was found that contractor's personnel had already removed over half of the tree. <br /> Due to the major extent of the work already done a notice of possible violation was <br /> issued but the remainder of the tree was allowed to be removed to prevent a hazardous <br /> condition. <br /> The City Charter amendment regarding street trees and the Urban Forest Management <br /> Plan both indicate that such a removal should not be allowed unless the tree was found <br /> to be in poor health and hazardous to the public safety. Chapter 7 of the Eugene Code <br /> states that a permit is necessary for any work to be performed in the street right -of -way. <br /> While this tree did show some signs of age, prior to it's removal it was in good condition <br /> and did not pose a hazard to the public. No permit had been issued for the removal of <br /> this tree. <br /> On investigation we found that the contractor's building permit plans identified the tree <br /> and its proposed removal in order to widen an access driveway. This detail did not <br /> trigger additional review and the applicant was not notified of the tree preservation <br /> requirement. It appears that there was no malicious intent on the part of McDonalds <br /> Corporation since the submitted plans did show the requested removal. <br /> In a subsequent meeting with McDonald's Corporation staff, it was established that <br /> neither the Salem based engineering firm who prepared the plans nor the Portland <br /> based construction management firm in control of the project realized the significance <br /> of this tree to Eugene's citizens nor that a specific permit would be required for its <br /> removal. <br /> 1 <br />