TITLE:
title
CAL FIRE URBAN FOREST AND COMMUNITY GRANT PROGRAM (CFR 2.0) AUTHORIZATION
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DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT/MAINTENANCE SERVICES DIVISION
PRESENTED BY: RAJA SETHURAMAN, PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR
CONTACT INFORMATION: ROBERT RYAN, MAINTENANCE SERVICES MANAGER, (714) 327-7499
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2022-xx (Attachment 1), authorizing the Public Services Director to submit an application, and the City Manager or designee to execute the necessary Memorandum of Understanding (Attachment 2) to participate in the CAL FIRE Urban Forest and Community Grant Program (CFR 2.0).
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BACKGROUND:
The City of Costa Mesa's Urban Forest contains approximately 24,000 trees located on city property. This includes city facilities, parks, parkways, sports complexes, streets and medians. The City is divided into thirty (30) maintenance districts. The City's tree inventory has an estimated value of $79,320,710 and has a diversity of over 270 different tree species.
Trees provide energy conservation, reduction of storm-water runoff, extend the life of surface streets, improve local air, soil and water quality, reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, improve public health, provide wildlife habitat and increase property values. In short, they improve the quality of life in our urban environment.
Trees located in city parks are currently trimmed every other year, and the City Arborist inspects all twenty-nine (29) parks on a monthly basis. The Public Services Department's goal is to have all other City maintained trees trimmed on a three (3) to five (5) year trim cycle; and to have the over 2,000 City owned palm trees trimmed on an annual basis. This will reduce liability, improve the health of the urban forest and decrease the number of service requests and the higher costs associated with those requests.
The maintenance of the City's Urban Forest is currently contracted out to West Coast Arborist...
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