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20. Removal of Hazardous Street Trees Mayor Jones commented that the report before Council titled "Results from a Tree Survey within the Town of Los Altos Hills" was an annual report that had been prepared by consultant David Babby, Arbor Resources. Public Safety Officer Steve Garcia introduced the item to Council. He explained that Council's acceptance of the report prepared by the Town's consulting arborist would allow staff to move forward on code enforcement of the trees that had been identified as potentially hazardous. Pursuant to the Municipal Code, property owners would be required, at their expense, to either remove or trim the trees to remedy the hazardous condition depending on the recommendation of their personally retained arborist. Council had before them a copy of the letter and informational items that would be sent to property owners. Garcia noted that a consultant would be hired to assist with code enforcement. Due to the public safety factor, Staff was proposing that funding for the consultant be paid with COPS monies. Councilmember Kerr expressed his concern that a thirty day notice to abate the hazardous trees was too short and suggested as an alternative, sixty (60) days. The additional time would allow the City Council to hear any egregious issues. Garcia explained that the thirty(30) day notice was key to the process due to the potential hazardous conditions presented by the trees. He preferred to have the authority to work with the residents on a case by case basis. OPENED PUBLIC COMMENT Colette Cranston, Fremont Road, stated twenty seven (27) trees, approximately 10% of the identified hazardous trees were on her property. She had not been notified that the report was on the agenda and was very concerned that a task as monumental as the trimming of eucalyptus trees eighty (80) to one hundred (100) feet tall would be very costly and could not be done in the allotted time. Cranston requested additional time to develop a course of action and to discuss various options. She suggested that she would like to consider the report in conjunction with the Eucalyptus Tree Ordinance and questioned if the Eucalyptus trees were so hazardous, why had the Town required the pathway to be constructed under the trees. CLOSED PUBLIC COMMENT Garcia clarified that the trees on the list had been determined to be hazardous to public safety based on public access and were located on pathways, public right-of-ways, or streets. Trees on private property were not included. Councilmember O'Malley suggested that he would like to see some latitude in the abatement time frame for those property owners who were impacted similarly to the Cranston by the reports. 14 City Council Regular Meeting Minutes September 13,2007