The changes would allow private property owners to replace cut-down trees with suitable trees listed by the city’s Natural Resources Committee as appropriate, though not necessarily the same species as those lost, and eliminate the “two-for-one” replacement requirement.
They hold the city to a higher standard of replacing trees, Frutchey said, noting Pacific Grove hasn’t kept up with the loss of trees on public property. Schematics included in the ordinance proposal noted a decline in the city’s tree canopy cover from 33 percent to 20 percent of its land area since 1986.