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Redondo Beach council backs staff work on tree canopy expansion and asks for fund and master‑plan cost estimates
Summary
Council directed staff to explore a tree‑donation mechanism and provide budgetary estimates for an urban forestry master plan after receiving a detailed staff report showing nearly 942 city‑planted trees in six years and about 2,500 identified parkway planting locations.
The Redondo Beach City Council on Tuesday received a staff report on the city’s urban forest and directed staff to pursue several next steps including exploring a public tree donation/trust fund and returning with cost estimates for an Urban Forestry Master Plan.
Public Works Director Andy Wingie and Urban Forestry Manager Mark Garlock said the city’s inventory (maintained in GIS by contractor WCA) lists about 11,350 city trees on roughly 1,100 acres. Staff reported planting 942 city trees and removing 197 in the last six years (a net increase of about 750 trees). They also identified roughly 2,500 potentially plantable parkway locations across the city.
Staff outlined a range of possible tools: easier‑to‑use web guidance on recommended species, expanded public education, a donations/commemorative planting program, partnership with non‑profits, programmatic incentives in development review and, as a heavier lift, an urban forestry master plan (estimated data‑collection cost on the order of $35,000–$65,000 depending on approach). Andy Wingie said higher‑resolution LiDAR or dedicated canopy mapping would provide more accurate baseline canopy numbers than publicly available national datasets.
Members of the public and local advocacy groups urged stronger action on private‑property protections, enforcement of developer planting commitments, a clearer donor portal and incentives for developers to include trees in projects. Several residents cited state guidance (AB 2251 noted by one speaker) calling for canopy increases, and urged the council to consider private‑property approaches or incentives.
Councilmember Barrett moved to receive the report and direct staff to pursue a BRR estimating the cost of seeding an urban forestry master plan and to explore a tree trust or donation mechanism and refresh the city’s online tree‑list materials; the motion passed unanimously. Staff also agreed to circulate a prioritized list of the roughly 2,500 vacant planting locations and to consider low‑cost options such as smaller container stock that are cheaper to buy and could be scaled up.
Next steps: Staff will return with a BRR on master‑plan cost estimates, propose an approach for a tree donation fund and make the city’s tree guidance more user friendly online.
