26 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY december 14-20, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com tained the trees are healthy and safe. There is a sweet story behind the four trees in their front yard, Monsoon says. There was a free seedling giveaway by the city in 1986. The former homeowners took four, one for each of their children. They were likely a cultivated variety of the Monterey cypress, scientific name Hesperocyparis macrocarpa. The original natives are more rare than Monterey pines—they are only found in two small groves, one in Pebble Beach (home to the iconic Lone Cypress) and one on Point Lobos. The groves are thought to go back at least 2,000 years. Unfortunately for Calvert and Monson, who bought the home in 2018, the trees were planted too close together and as shown when they grew up over decades, within feet of overhead power lines. PG&E crews regularly prune the side of the trees facing the lines, which Calvert and Monson say creates an imbalance. They also contend the trees have been topped, which most experts agree is a practice that can lead to disease, insect infestations and a shorter lifespan. “The lifespan is about 150 years old but these guys aren’t going to make it to that,” Calvert says. “They’re going to fall over, this one is going to fall on the house for sure,” he says, pointing to the tallest tree on the end. Calvert was incredulous when during one public hearing the city arborist said that if the tree fell on their home it would be a “soft fall,” meaning the canopy of the tree would soften the impact to the house. “That is three to four tons of tree,” Calvert says. P.G. Public Works Director Dan Gho, not directly speaking to the Calvert/Monson case, says all decisions about whether to keep a tree or allow removal are based on the city’s tree ordinances. If defects in a tree are found to be valid by the city’s arborist, they will post the tree for removal for a 10-day period, giving members of the public the opportunity to appeal the decision. “The problem is emotions get brought into it,” Gho says. “We’re Pacific Grove, a grove of trees,” he adds. “We’re based in an urban forest…we want to maintain that canopy.” The canopy, he says, provides significant benefits, like shelter to wildlife, cleaner air and a significant wind break from winds blowing off the ocean. Calvert and Monson say they’d be happy to plant new trees to replace the cypress trees they worry are endangering their home and their lives. They’ve drained savings on attorney’s fees and feel stressed out by the situation. “I’ve been saving all my life to get a house like this,” Monson says. “This has been our dream, and now we don’t know what we’re going to do.” Tree ordinances were created with a singular purpose: to protect trees. Guidelines established by the Environmental Law Institute lay out the reasons, including maintaining large areas of contiguous habitat with “meaningful” connections between habitat areas, protecting sensitive areas and species, among others. It’s a formula that urban foresters and arborists in cities and counties have adhered to for years. Each jurisdiction crafts its own ordinance, including when permits are needed for pruning or removal, how trees will be evaluated, how to appeal a city arborist’s decision and a schedule of fees and fines. Pasquinelli in Skyline Forest remembers that years ago, Monterey’s foresters were not often sympathetic to homeowners looking to remove trees. “They said, ‘You chose to live in the forest, what do you expect?’ I expect to be able to live.” He says the attitude has changed in recent years. Louis Marcuzzo is Monterey’s parks operations manager. “It’s pretty rare we would disagree with an arborist,” he says of requests that come with arborist’s reports. Sometimes city officials ask for a more complete report, and in cases where they do disagree with a property owner, the case could go into an appeals process. Cullem suggests that in the case of trees that could pose a danger to homes, “you’ve got to say to yourself, that should be a factor. We’ve requested this officially with the City of Monterey, for the forester to consider not just the health of the tree, but its potential risk and its perceived risk. The perceived risk is not insignificant.” He and Pasquinelli say Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar already made a change based on their request that appeals be handled by a committee that includes members with tree expertise—previously appeals went through the city’s Architectural Review Board. It gives them hope that an amended city tree ordinance taking safety into account will become a reality. Mike Niccum has seen the worst of what storms can throw at Del Monte Forest after 29 years working for the Pebble Beach Community Services District. “In 1998 we got hit really hard. We had roads washing out all over the place and we were out of power for a couple of weeks,” he says. “Pebble Beach gets hit by the outages more than anyone else.” The outages there tend to last longer than the rest of the Monterey Peninsula as well, but Niccum, who took over as the district’s general manager in 2008, says he understands— Pebble Beach is less populated, so PG&E focuses on higher-population areas first to restore power. Restoring power is also complicated by safety concerns and the area’s rougher geography. When trees pull lines down, those lines have to be treated as live, which means crews have to de-energize them before repair work can begin. Some of the craggier areas of the hills and gullies make it difficult for trucks and equipment to reach the damage. Nicholas Becker (left), deputy general manager/district engineer for the Pebble Beach Community Services District, and Mike Niccum, the district’s general manager, in Del Monte Forest. Becker directly oversees the district’s undergrounding project, now about 15 years in the making. Niccum estimates they’ve spent $18 million for six miles of undergrounding within Pebble Beach, paid for through residents’ property taxes. A PG&E crew at work on Del Monte Avenue on March 10, after high winds downed a large Monterey cypress that took down poles and main transmission lines carrying power to Monterey and surrounding areas. “They said, ‘You chose to live in the forest, what do you expect?’ I expect to be able to live.”
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