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TO: Dave Colley FROM: Gene Shutt SUBJECT: Tree at 2870 Emerald Adrian Stansfield talked to me about the fir tree at 2870 Emerald. He indi- cated the property owner to be a former City Manager of Eugene, Hugh McKinley. I looked at the tree, which is rooted within an elevated portion of the right of way where curbside sidewalks are located. Most of the properties on this dead end section of Emerald have curbside sidewalks and it's not unrealistic to think that at some future point we may require the same of Mr. McKinley. Since the tree is rooted within a section of property that is elevated about three feet above the surrounding sidewalks, Mr. McKinley has a retaining wall around the base of the tree. As the tree has matured and grown, the retain- ing wall has cracked and bulged. Since Mr. Mckinley has indicated he wants to retain the tree, I assume he plans to construct a new retaining wall around the tree base and is asking that we reconstruct the curb at this loca- tion to allow for a widened retaining wall. Please let me know if my assessment of this situation is correct and if so, who has initiated this discussion. Did Mr. McKinley contact you or Adrian about this issue or did we contact him? Either way, I don't believe we should be reconstructing the curb alignment to save a tree which is within an area where a sidewalk would be located. While these kinds of exceptions have undoubtably been made at some locations within the City, I don't believe it should be done in this instance. We would not only be adding credibility to these types of situations but would probably be criticized for showing favoritism to a former city employee. If we don't intend to require a sidewalk of Mr. McKinley at this time, I don't believe the issue belongs with Maintenance. If Mr. McKinley is insis- tent on direction it is really a Transportation issue, since they are the folks who would approve a weave pattern on the street. We could take the issue to Transportation and get an answer for Mr. McKinley. If Transporta- tion staff were to allow the weave pattern, I would recommend the work be done by private contract and at Mr. McKinley's expense. I would also recom- mend that such a variance be done in a manner (perhaps a Revocable Use Per- mit) that would enable us to require a sidewalk and replacement of the curb to it's original alignment at a future date if we needed. This latter work would again be at the property owner's expense. cc: Tony Jobanek Adrian Stansfield Bob Hammitt