DEAR WEHO 📬 Why the tree canopy is so important

To: West Hollywood City Council
From: Lynn M. Hoopingarner, CMC
Date: December 16, 2023
RE: Citywide Landscape and Tree Canopy Standards

Four years ago, Council gave staff a task to develop “new definitions and standards that could achieve the City’s climate, sustainability, resilience, and health and wellness goals even more effectively, specifically a) exploring requiring a one-to-one replacement of canopy trees in new residential and commercial developments, and b) requiring a minimum number of new trees in new residential and commercial developments where they do not currently exist.”

Staff has done an excellent job of doing just that.  Developing objective standards that work to not only preserve our rapidly declining tree cover but to slowly bring it to standards that cities around the world now see as a minimum level for sustainability. In fact, just last month New York city council passed a measure calling for 30% canopy cover by 2035, up from its current 22% (the same as ours).  

Staff was very thorough in the comprehensiveness of their outreach throughout the residential and business community and to subject matter experts that has resulted in a ZTA that will not only achieve the goals outlined, but bring the city’s code into compliance with state requirements—since our existing code is both unclear and subjective.

Balance.  This ordinance is about bringing some balance back into our code to REPLACE existing trees lost to development and require minimum standards for trees in new projects.  As the staff report says, these are steps “to encourage a healthier ecosystem and a more purposeful balance between the built environment and a tree-enriched natural environment.”

To be clear, this is still far from ideal from a climate protection perspective.  A mature tree may be “replaced” but it will take decades for the new tree to begin to provide the same benefits as the one chopped down.  A 30” (in diameter) oak provides 70 times more air pollutant interception than a 3” oak.  70 times!  

Income Inequality

Trees are not “luxury” items—even though statistically if you live in a low-income neighborhood you will have 41% fewer trees than wealthier communities. If you are a person of color you have 33% fewer trees than predominantly white communities.  

In our singular focus on building housing (with only about 15% actually affordable) we are denuding the city of its tree canopy with huge seven and eight story buildings built lot-line-to-lot-line. Look at the map on p. 7 of the staff report (Item 3A) .  The bulk of our tree canopy is in the wealthy single-family neighborhoods and there is a clear inequity in our multi-family zones.  Those statistics are proving true right here in WeHo.

In just the past few years in just a one block radius of my home, no less than a dozen very mature trees (more than 75 years old) have been chopped down.  In exchange we will have one new affordable unit and no replacement of any trees.  How can we be all up in arms about the cattle ranchers deforesting the Amazon and turn a blind eye when deforestation happens in our own back yard?

This is not sustainable.  Remember what the Eastern Bloc looked like after their huge housing booms of the middle of the last century?  Huge blocks of concrete with nary an ounce of green as far as the eye could see.  That is where we are headed unless we honor our “progressive” values and own our responsibility for our share of the climate crisis and make these nominal changes—as a start.

Trees are actually much more effective and cost-effective at addressing some of our most serious climate challenges: heat, rainwater runoff, air pollution.  In fact, “trees are the only piece of infrastructure that gains value over time!” Tree People

Heat

 “Average temperatures in Los Angeles have risen 6°F in the last 50 years as tree coverage has declined and the number of heat-absorbing roads and buildings has increased. Trees cool the city by up to 10°F, by shading our homes and streets, breaking up urban “heat islands” and releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves.” Tree People

While building codes work to require efficient HVAC, allow for solar cells and other ways to save energy, a tree actual reduces the need for energy as it acts like a natural air conditioning.  Three trees placed strategically around a single-family home can cut summer air conditioning needs by up to 50 percent—reducing carbon dioxide and other pollution emissions from power plants. Tree People

Trees decrease flooding and polluted runoff

It looks like we are headed into another wet winter.  A single medium-sized tree can soak up as much as 2,380 gallons of rain every year!  As part of our “climate action” we need to be working to develop resiliency for more winters like last year. 

Air Quality

Every breath we take is a little cleaner thanks to the trees around us!  The impact is so powerful that trees actually reduce healthcare costs in the surrounding community. Children who live in areas with more street trees are less likely to suffer from asthma. 

Health

“Exposure to trees has been shown to boost immunity, lower stress and blood pressure, enhance mood, sharpen focus and increase energy levels.” People with easy access to trees experience less depression, stronger senses of community, and lower rates of anxiety. Just looking at green landscapes can boost children’s ability to focus and bounce back from stress, which can even improve test scores.  

Urban trees absorb carbon pollution

This is the environmental benefit that trees are famous for. They absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which is crucial in fighting climate change. Conservation Law Foundation  We are a “pass through” city.  There is very little we are going to be able to do to change that but we can change how we work to minimize the health and climate impact of all those cars.

Wildlife

WeHo has a surprisingly rich wildlife community but to sustain it requires the tree canopy where they can nest, feed and find protection.  There is at least one mating pair of Great Horned Owls here (most likely nesting at Laurel House), I hear them regularly in my yard.  There are Cooper’s Hawks and so many other birds, butterflies, lizards and more.  But they all need a home.  Importantly for biodiversity, animals need to be able to travel and they can’t do that if chunks of the community are denuded.

While developers will try to tell you that if we insist on replacing those “pesky trees” it will cost affordable housing, that it will limit their design options. Staff’s analysis has shown this is not the case.  Especially since the state has now reduced, or in some cases eliminated, parking requirements leaving considerable opportunity for the same housing AND much needed green space.  In fact, with the increased trend towards micro, mini and extra-mini sized housing, outdoor green space will be needed even more.  Do we really want to be the city that adds more inequitable low-income housing to the 41% already without tree and green space?

In our singular focus on the housing crisis, we have been ignoring the impact of all this construction on the climate crises right here at home.  This really is not an either/or discussion.  We are the “creative city”.  We have the capability to be creative in developing balanced solutions to some of the most intractable challenges of our times.  This ZTA is just a small, but important, first step towards re-establishing the balance in our community with quality of life for ALL the residents.  We are leaders in so many social justice areas, we can be equally leaders in protecting our climate right here at home.

Please support this ZTA as proposed by staff, and approved by Planning Commission, and let’s move toward a greener, more equitable future. 

Thank you.