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Committee advances $2.5 million tree-planting contracts; members ask which neighborhoods will get new canopy
Summary
The committee advanced three three‑year contracts for tree and shrub planting and maintenance (each listed at $2.5 million) and pressed staff on how planting locations would be chosen and how the program will reach neighborhoods with less than 20% tree canopy.
The Neighborhoods and Community Services Standing Committee voted to move three contracts for tree and shrub planting and maintenance (line items 6.5, 6.6 and 6.7) to formal session with recommendations for approval. Each contract in the packet is listed with a $2,500,000 total over a three-year term.
Committee members asked staff to clarify where those plantings would happen and how contractors were selected. Member Benson asked directly, “where will these trees be planted and shrubs maintained?” Miss Smith of the General Services Department replied the program targets city property berms (the strip between curb and sidewalk) in neighborhoods where canopy coverage is 20% or less. “It would be specifically in the berm… in the neighborhoods where the tree canopy coverage is 20% or less,” Smith said.
Jerrell Harris, Deputy Director, GSD, told the committee the awards aim to help achieve the city’s broader tree-planting target: the city has planted about 25,000 trees so far and seeks to reach 75,000. Harris said unit pricing and per-tree bids were used for award decisions and that the city is pursuing grant funding (EPA and others) to offset some of the street-fund costs.
Several council members expressed concern at the apparent differences between line-item totals in the backup and unit pricing in the bid tabulation. Harris and procurement representative Arroyo Rush explained that the $2.5 million figures represent contract ceilings across three years and that the backup also included unit prices per tree and species, which explains apparent disparities between per‑tree costs and overall contract amounts.
The committee advanced the three contracts to formal session; staff said planting will prioritize areas with low canopy coverage and that some grant reimbursements are anticipated.
