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Committee hears presentations, public support for measure to transfer street-tree maintenance to city and fund it with parcel/partial tax
Summary
The Rules Committee reviewed a charter amendment and related funding measure to shift responsibility for street-tree maintenance to the city, create a special fund and a frontage-based parcel/partial tax (average ~ $36/year), and invest in pruning, sidewalk repairs, and a 50% increase in canopy over time; committee adopted technical amendments and continued the items to a future meeting.
A charter amendment to transfer street-tree maintenance to the city and a companion funding measure drew detailed presentations and broad public support at the Rules Committee meeting on June 23. The draft would move maintenance responsibility from fronting property owners to the city, create a special fund to pay for maintenance (including trees on San Francisco Unified School District property), and authorize a partial/parcel tax based on linear frontage to ensure stable funding.
Carla Short of San Francisco Public Works framed the proposal around a declining urban canopy and a growing backlog of sidewalk repairs tied to tree roots. Short said the city is on a 10–12 year pruning cycle — well above the industry standard of 3–5 years — and cited a study with AECOM estimating annual program costs near $19 million. The measure as discussed pairs approximately $8 million in ongoing city contributions with a parcel/partial tax expected to yield about $11–$12 million, producing roughly $19–20 million per year to fund maintenance, pruning cycles, sidewalk remediation and a planned 50% increase in canopy over time.
Dan Flanagan (Friends of the Urban Forest) and multiple community members urged the committee to move the measure forward, noting equity and public-safety benefits, improved competitiveness for planting grants (Cal Fire and others) if maintenance funding is assured, and reduced homeowner liability. Several speakers representing underserved neighborhoods highlighted that 77% of parcels would pay under $50 annually and that a typical residential lot would pay about $36 per year; the measure uses linear frontage to align fees with trees served.
Opponents or cautious commenters raised questions about exemptions and language clarity. Eileen Bokin said the Wiener measure (as drafted) lacked a senior exemption and contained vague language such as 'primarily to pay for'; the clerk later clarified that the legislation includes a senior exemption for people 65 and older that renews automatically, according to the transcript exchange.
After presentations and public comment, the committee adopted amendments read into the record (moved and seconded) by unanimous consent and then voted by unanimous consent to continue Items 2 and 3 to the next Rules Committee meeting for further consideration and refinement.
The proposals incorporate operational planning (an annually-reviewed operations plan and a citywide tree census), school-tree maintenance, and explicit provisions that would cancel the partial tax if maintenance responsibility were shifted back to property owners. The committee action preserves further review before the items reach the full Board.
