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Committee advances code changes to implement Prop E, shifting street‑tree maintenance to city
Summary
The Land Use & Transportation Committee advanced an ordinance to align the Public Works Code with Charter section 16.129 (Proposition E), committing $19 million annually to street‑tree care, formalizing a three‑year establishment period for newly planted trees and clarifying liability for owner‑caused damage.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Land Use & Transportation Committee on Dec. 4 advanced an ordinance to amend the Public Works Code to implement Charter section 16.129, the voter‑approved Proposition E, which makes the city responsible for maintaining street trees.
Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, the measure’s sponsor in committee, said the voter measure passed in November 2016 and created a dedicated program to return maintenance responsibility to the city. Carla Short, superintendent of the Bureau of Urban Forestry, told the committee that the measure — branded Street Tree SF — guarantees Public Works $19,000,000 a year from the general fund for street‑tree care and transfers responsibility for about 125,000 street trees to the city.
Short outlined code changes to reflect the new responsibility: removing a provision that placed maintenance on adjacent property owners; eliminating a mechanism that allowed the department to relinquish maintenance duty back to property owners; and formalizing a three‑year tree establishment agreement requiring Public Works sign‑off before the city accepts a tree into its maintenance program. Short also described a process allowing property owners to opt out and hire private contractors for maintenance and a requirement that owners who damage trees remediate the structural problems before the city will take responsibility.
Supporters and neighbors said the change addresses a decade of underfunding and shifting of costs onto property owners. Gail Baugh, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, told the committee she has worked with Public Works on median and boulevard tree restoration and urged careful implementation.
Chair Mark Farrell and committee members took a motion from Supervisor Aaron Peskin to forward the ordinance with a positive recommendation; the committee treated the item as a committee report and took the motion without objection. The committee did not record a roll‑call vote at the hearing.
If adopted by the full Board of Supervisors, the ordinance will align the code with the charter provision that created Street Tree SF and clarify liability and establishment rules for newly planted trees.
