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was told that it would require a public hearing before the Planning Commission and possibly the City Council to receive approval to remove the tree. On August 31, 2004, the Sheriff alerted the Town that a large oak tree had been removed from the site. Garcia showed slides of the large tree with an eighty (80) foot diameter drip line and multi-stemmed trunk five feet in diameter.- He had before and after pictures of the tree/stump. Garcia noted that no permit had been issued by the Town to remove the tree. Garcia reviewed the staff recommendations for conditions upon future site development on Lot 4. They included: that the property owner or successive property owners must install and maintain two (2) 84" box Coast Live Oaks, a minimum of 21-feet tall, in the same location of the unlawfully removed heritage oak. The trees must be installed prior to the Town's acceptance or review of any plans or site development permit application. In addition to the trees, the property owner would be required to submit a landscape maintenance deposit in the amount of$34,000. The deposit would be held by the Town for two years after the installation of the trees and only released if the trees were viable. Planning Director Cahill explained that if Council approved the conditions, the Town would record them on the property and they would be transferable to any future owner. He noted that he had not seen any plan for the site that showed that the heritage oak tree would have impeded development. OPENED PUBLIC HEARING • Council discussed the location of the replacement trees. Councilmember Cheng commented that if the applicant were permitted to plant the trees on the site in a location that was favorable to them, they would take better care of the trees, otherwise the trees could die and be removed legally. Councilmember Fenwick agreed that he would be inclined to place the replacement trees in a reasonable location. CLOSED PUBLIC HEARING REOPENED PUBLIC HEARING TO PERMIT PUBLIC TESTIMONY Jill Jensen, Purissima Road, expressed her concern that this could set a precedent that would allow people to remove trees and just replace them in another more favorable place. Chris Vargas, Templeton Place, voiced his support for the conditions as presented. He believed they were a reasonable set of consequences that were tough but flexible. He would not leave the location of the replacement trees to the property owner but to the discretion of the Planning Director. Ky Nyborg, property owner's representative, addressed Council. He explained that the tree that had been removed was in terrible condition. The tree company's arborist, while pruning the tree, contacted the property owner and conferred that the tree had a large hole • in it and reported that it would not survive. Based on that report, the tree was removed. 9 City Council Meeting Minutes October 21,2004