Board of Appeals orders monitoring, cabling and branch removal for 600 Alvarado trees

The San Francisco Board of Appeals voted 5-0 on Oct. 19, 2022 to grant an appeal by the 600 Alvarado Street homeowners association and impose conditions short of removing two Monterey cypress trees. The board ordered the Bureau of Urban Forestry (BUFF) to annually monitor the trees and report to the HOA, to install a cable between the two main stems of the street tree in consultation with the HOA's arborist, and to remove a decayed stub and a dying branch from the street tree.

The appeal (identified in the hearing material as 20Two-sixty5) sought permission to remove two large Monterey cypress trees — one partly in the public right of way and one on private property within 10 feet of the right of way — after private arborists reported internal decay. Appellant Naomi Strutzel, speaking for the 600 Alvarado homeowners association, described two arborist reports including a resistograph/sonic tomography assessment and said the reports recommended either removal or, if retained, additional cabling and annual monitoring. "[W]e would feel comfort with the replacement of the cable by the city and…