City Council Members Focus on Unhealthy Trees in Blair Park Landscaping Plan

A contract for a landscaping plan for Blair Park was approved by the Piedmont City Council Aug. 19 — but not before some council members made it clear that they are more focused on removing diseased and damaged trees quickly than they are on long-range planning for the open space area on Moraga Avenue.

The landscaping plan is part of a 2012 legal settlement between the City of Piedmont and the Friends of Moraga Canyon (FOMC).

FOMC had threatened court action over the city's handling of environmental concerns related to a controversial proposal to build soccer fields in Blair Park. The sports field plan was initially proposed by the non-profit Piedmont Recreational Fecilities Organization (PRFO), which pledged to cover all associated construction and legal costs.

The planning proposal submitted by Restoration Design Group, a Berkeley-based landscape architecture firm, focused on what were called "low-impact" improvements, including assessment of the health of existing trees on the site, replacement of ivy and other invasive vegetation with native plants, and construction of paths.

But it also included the lines, "We understand that Blair Park has had competing proposals in the recent past and we intend to design a project that will help heal relations and reinforce the decision to keep Blair Park in a natural condition," remarks that Councilmember Robert McBain called "presumptuous."

"There are 3,00 people in this city who would like to see a sports field there," McBain said.

"This is part of a legal settlement from money put out as indemnity from PRFO, not money that Friends of Moraga Canyon is giving the city," he said.

Vice Mayor Margaret Fujioka said that no Piedmont policy body has made a decision on specific future directions for Blair Park.

Bob Birkeland, the principal architect for the Restoration Design Group, told council members that the firm "doesn't bring an agenda to any project."

"We are not advocates for anything but good design," he said.

Nancy Kent, a current member of the Piedmont Park Commission and the landscape architect who prepared the landscaping plan for the PRFO sports field proposal, asked whether it would be possible to use some of the settlement money for tree assessment and possibly removal before developing a Blair Park landscape plan.

She said many of the trees in Blair Park — including acacia, Monterey pines and bay laurel — are invasive and in poor condition.

Councilmember Garrett Keating noted that a third of the $15,000 landscaping plan cost is designated for assessment of the park's trees. 

City Administrator Geoffrey Grote said that the legal settlement requires completion of a landscaping plan before work is undertaken at the park. 

Councilmember Jeff Wieler said recommendations for trees to be removed need to be a top priority in the planning process.

"Some of those trees are dangerous," he said.

Grote said that if public safety is threatened, the city can remove trees in Blair Park without waiting for the landscaping plan to be completed.

Ultimately the council approved the planning contract with only a minor change that would ensure a Restoration Design Group presence at more than one Park Commission hearing on the plan, if necessary.

The plan will go to the Park Commission for at least one public hearing and recommendations to the city council. The process is expected to extend over at least three months.

'Like' Piedmont Patch on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter @PiedmontPatch