Several Monrovia residents pressed the City Council on May 20 to strengthen local protections for street and private trees and to adopt a formal community forest plan.

Resident Jennifer McDonald told the council she supports increasing tree canopy and updating the city's rules, saying, "Our tree protection ordinance is 31 years old" and urging a new bidding process for the city's tree-trimming contract. Karen Jane, a volunteer with a local tree committee and the environmental organization Grama Monrovia, told the council Monrovia's developed-area tree canopy is low and said the 1994 ordinance protects only oaks and, in residential areas, only those along streets. Jane said nearby cities now protect multiple species and have arborists on staff.

City Manager Dylan Feek responded during the staff reports, saying the city maintains two primary tree ordinances: the Oak Tree Preservation Ordinance and chapter 12.44, the city's street tree ordinance adopted in February 2020. Feek told the council, "This is the ordinance that governs how we plant trees throughout the city and public areas. This was adopted in 02/2020. And so what it did was it really eliminated a lot of non native species." He also said the city's overall canopy measurement includes open space and that, "The city of Monrovia has approximately 53% of the city covered with the tree canopy. That includes the wilderness preserve."

Feek said that when the undeveloped open-space areas are removed from the calculation the canopy figures for developed neighborhoods are lower, and he confirmed staff will be bringing the annual tree-planting program back for council review in coming months. He said the city has been planting roughly 270 trees per year as part of that program and noted the city recently renewed Tree City USA certification.

Speakers in the public comment period asked the council to consider four specific steps: update the tree protection ordinance to cover more species and private property, adopt a community forest management plan, hire or train a city forester to centralize technical decisions, and put the tree-trimming contract out to competitive bid. City staff acknowledged several of those items are already partly addressed by the 2020 street-tree ordinance and said additional policy and planting proposals will be presented to the council in the near term.

The council did not take immediate legislative action on the tree ordinance at the May 20 meeting; the matter was raised during public comment and addressed by staff in their report. Future agenda items or staff reports will be the vehicle for any ordinance updates or new hiring decisions.

Residents and staff also referenced private vendors by name during the discussion, including West Coast Arborists, which a public commenter said currently holds the city's trimming contract and whose contract the commenter believed expires in June.