Rose Garden Resident

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Neighbors win battle to save trees facing removal at Garden Alameda

By Mary Gottschalk

The single almond tree among 302 trees in the Garden Alameda office complex will continue to bloom, thanks to the efforts of neighbor Nancy Dunne.

The Hoover Avenue resident, who regularly walks through the complex, rallied neighbors to fight an application by the property owners for removal of the almond, along with eight other live trees and one dead one.

Dunne's efforts paid off May 17 when principal planner Susan Walton recommended removal permits for the almond as well as one of two eucalyptus trees be denied.

At the same time, Walton recommended approval of permits allowing for removal of seven live trees and one dead one, with the stipulation that for each tree removed, four must be planted either at the complex or in the neighborhood.

Also included in the request to the planning department was a request for after-the-fact approval of three trees removed without permits.

In recommending approval of that, Walton followed staff recommendations that each of those trees be replaced with eight new ones.

Additionally, Walton agreed with neighborhood requests that the new trees be planted before the removal of the old ones.

The latest battle over trees in the complex, which faces The Alameda and is bounded by Pershing and Schiele avenues, started when neighbors were notified in April of the tree removal applications.

At the May 3 San Jose Planning Directors meeting, Walton listened to Dunne and other speakers question the veracity of an arborist's report paid for by Boccardo Management Group, which owns the property.

Heeding their request, Walton granted a continuance to give San Jose City arborist Ralph Mize time to survey the trees.

Planner Erin Morris, who has been handling the applications, reported at the May 17 meeting that Mize had visited Garden Alameda and recommended the almond tree be spared at this time.

Morris reported Mize said that while there are some signs of infestation, the almond tree shows no signs of decline and should be left there until it does.

Dunne said after the hearing, "I'm happy for the trees that were saved. I'd have felt horrible if I hadn't put up a fight."

Representatives of Boccardo Management Group attended both meetings but did not speak at either one.

In an interview after the May 3 meeting, Jim Rees of Boccardo said the company's motives are "misunderstood," and it is trying to deal with deferred maintenance of the trees, pruning them and trying "to get the trees back up to a healthy place."

Rees did not attend the May 17 meeting, but in a interview afterward said, "I'm a little miffed at the replacement planting of eight trees for one and having to put trees away from our site. I think it's the city's attempt to get other people to pay for street trees they should pay for."