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Commissioners,

Please take the following tree replacement plan into consideration.

The Canyon Live Oak and Ceanothus should be grown as trees. The Toyons and Sugar Bushes should be grown as shrubs. Shrubs are better for erosion control and view preservation. The Canyon Live Oak is placed low to preserve the view at every level and to provide street shade. The "Ray Hartman" Ceanothus is well suited to be grown in "standard" form (as a tree). It will sit nicely beneath the power lines, won't interfere with the structure or driveway and provide evergreen shade to the street and present a beautiful display of flowers. The hedge should be kept native as well and the Hollyleaf Cherry is a perfect native analog to the provided Carolina Cherry. Keeping all plantings native will simplify irrigation setup and ongoing maintenance. These plants all want mild irrigation during early years and then want little to none once matured. Only the hedge should be pruned regularly. The "Ray Hartman" should be coerced into the standard form but otherwise managed minimally as well.

The ficus needs to go. It's a junk tree in poor shape, it's in the way and needs a different irrigation regime. The small plantings should be kept native as well. The groundcover Ceanothus already described is fine but should be kept away from the driplines of the trees and shrubs. Buckwheat is an excellent groundcover to fill in the gaps while the significant plantings fill out. The circles represent the plant sizes in 40-50 years.

The tree ordinance calls for 24" box trees. Natives transplant best at smaller sizes. To justify the number of plantings it wouldn't be ill advised to offer a variance to planting size. As long as irrigation is successful early on they will catch up in size and be better off for it in the long run including their ability to provide erosion control due to more deeply developed root systems.

Thank you,
Angelo Gladding
1856 Hanscom Drive