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Home My WebLink AboutAGENDA REPORT 1988 1026 CC ADJ ITEM 12BORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MOORPARK RELATING TO THE PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE OF TREES, SHRUBS AND PLANTS ITEM_/_~ .-"'---4...;a...._. The City Council of the City of Moorpark does ordain as follows: Section 1. Chapter 14.08 is hereby added to the Moorpark Municipal Code to read as follows: Chapter 14.08 PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE OF TREES, SHRUBS AND PLANTS Sec. 14.08.010 Planting and Maintenance - Consistent with Ordinance No. regulating the preservation, cutting and removal of historic trees, mature oak trees and mature trees and with Resolution No. setting forth Guidelines for a Master Tree Plan, it shall be the City's policy to utilize whatever techniques, methods, and procedures are required to preserve, whenever feasible, all trees in the City including, but not limited to, trees which are creating damage to surface improvements or underground facilities or which are diseased, or located where construction is being considered or will occur. Sec. 14.08.020 Director's Responsibility -The Director of Community Services ("Director") shall enforce, implement, and carry out the policy, provisions, and regulations of this Chapter in a manner which is consistent with other established policies of the City. Sec. 14.08.030 Trees on Public Property -The Director of Community Services shall be responsible for the preservation of and when required, the removal of all trees on public property. Sec. 14.08.040 Property Owner's Responsibility A. It shall be the responsibility of the property owner or his occupant to prevent any tree, shrub or plant on his private property from overhanging or projecting into public property. The Director shall have the authority to require the property owner or his occupant to prune, trim, cut down or remove any such tree, shrub or plant, or parts thereof, if it appears to the Director to be dead, liable to fall, dangerous, an obstruction to public travel, or is not pruned or trimmed to a height of fourteen feet, six inches above the paved portion of the street to accommodate such vehicles as garbage trucks, buses, moving vans and street maintenance trucks. Except in a case of manifest public danger and immediate necessity, no such tree, shrub or plant shall be pruned, trimmed, cut down or removed by the Director unless the Director has given the property owner and his occupant ten (10) days' written notice to take corrective action. If the necessary corrective action is not taken by the property owner or his occupant within (10) days, the Director shall perform the services and the cost thereof shall be assessed to the property owner, including the cost of labor (including overhead), equipment and materials. B. It shall be the responsibility of the property owner or his occupant to treat or remove any tree, shrub, plant, grass or other vegetation on his private property, if it is so diseased or insect-infected as to constitute a hazard to other trees, shrubs or plants. The Director shall have the authority to require the property owner or his occupant to take such action as is necessary to control insects, scales, parasites, fungi and other injurious pests, or diseases. The Director shall notify the property owner and his occupant in writing, describing the conditions, stating the control necessary for correction, and provide thirty (30) days within which the required steps must be taken. If the property owner or his occupant questions the necessity for such action, the Director shall refer the matter to a plant pathologist whose decision shall be final. If necessary corrective action is not taken within the time specified, the Director is authorized in the public interest, to enter on the property in question and to spray, trim, prune, or treat or remove all or any part of the tree, shrub, plant, grass or other vegetation determined to be infested or diseased. The charge assessed to the property owner shall be equal to the cost of labor (including overhead), equipment and materials. Nothing herein prevents the Director from taking immediate action for removal if he determines that such action is necessary for the public health, safety or welfare. Sec. 14.08.050 City's Responsibility - A. If any tree on public property is infected or infested with insects, pests or disease, the Director shall cause such condition to be treated or, if any such tree is infected or infested to such a degree that such condition -2- lek/ORD8723 cannot be eradicated by treatment, the Director may order the removal and/or replacement of such tree. B. The Director after unsuccessfully utilizing all techniques, methods and procedures which he deems reasonable to save trees planted on public property which are dead, dying, in a dangerous condition, unsafe or likely to cause damage, shall remove and/or replace such trees. Sec. 14.08.060 Unlawful Acts -No person, except authorized City personnel, shall remove, destroy, deface or injure any tree on public property by any means including, but not limited to, the following: A. By pouring any material on any tree or on the ground which would be harmful to the tree; B. By attaching any sign or notice or other object on any tree or fastening any guy wire, cable, rope, nails or screws or any other device to any tree, except that agencies, may, under the supervision of the Director, temporarily affix no parking signs to trees when necessary in conjunction with activities in the public interest, such as street improvement work, tree maintenance work, or parades; C. By causing or encouraging any unnecessary fire or burning near or around any tree; D. By constructing a concrete, asphalt, brick or gravel surface, or otherwise covering the ground within a one-foot radius of any tree so as to shut off air or water from the roots, except under written authority from the Director. Sec. 14.08.070 Plantings In Public Property - A. No person shall plant any tree or any shrub or plant with a mature height in excess of thirty-six (36) inches on any public property of the City without written permission from the Director. B. Any tree, shrub or plant planted in violation of subsection A of this section may be removed by the Director. The Director shall notify the abutting property owner in writing, listing the unlawfully planted trees, shrubs or plants, ordering their removal, and provide thirty (30) days within which removal shall be accomplished. In the event the removal is not accomplished within the specified time, the Director is authorized to remove such -3- lek/ORD8723 trees, shrubs or plants and the cost thereof shall be assessed to the property owner. The charge assessed the property owner shall be equal to the cost of labor (including overhead), equipment and materials. Sec. 14.08.080 Construction Areas -Any tree growing upon public property near any excavation, construction or street work shall be sufficiently guarded and protected by those responsible for such work so as to prevent any injury to said tree. No person shall excavate any ditches, tunnels or trenches, or install pavement within a radius of four feet from any tree on public property without the written permission of the Director. Sec. 14.08.090 Tree And Landscape Fee - The development of projects of residential, commercial and industrial nature removes land from its natural state and replaces the natural state and natural landscape with man- made structures. In order to ensure that there is a certain amount of landscape remaining in the City in the way of trees, plants and shrubs, the City shall impose a landscape fee on each new project in an amount to be determined by resolution of the City Council. Such fee shall be used for the installation, maintenance and replacement of trees, plants and shrubs on public property. Landscape work in the City will provide a benefit to those living and/or working in the new developments by preserving the visual environment and the air quality, both of which are impacted by new development. This fee is separate and distinct from any other fee imposed. Sec. 14.08.100 Nonliability Of City -Nothing in this Ordinance shall be deemed to impose any liability upon the City or upon any of its officers or employees nor to relieve the owner and occupant of any private property from the duty to keep trees and shrubs upon private property or under his control or upon sidewalk and parkways in front of such private property in a safe condition. Sec. 14.08.110 Appeals -Any decision by the Director shall be appealable by any aggrieved person to the City Manager. An appeal of the City Manager shall be appealable to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Appeals of the Commission shall be heard by the City Council. All appeals shall be in writing, stating the decision appealed from and reasons for the appeal, and filed within ten days of the decision being appealed. -4- lek/ORD8723 Section 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance and shall publish same in the manner prescribed by law. of APPROVED AND ADOPTED this , 1988. -------- ATTEST CITY CLERK day MAYOR