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Committee recommends updating street-tree guide after residents raise crabapple accessibility concerns
Summary
Staff relayed a resident complaint that crabapples and flowering pears create messy sidewalks and impede people using wheelchairs; the committee agreed the street-tree guide is a living document and discussed specifying fruitless varieties or removing problematic species.
A citizen complaint about crabapples and flowering pears prompted the Draper City Tree Committee to discuss revisions to the city’s street-tree guide to reduce sidewalk mess and improve accessibility.
Staff told the committee that a resident had reported difficulty using sidewalks because of fruit drop from certain species. Committee members agreed this warranted changes to the tree guide—either by specifying fruitless crabapple varieties or removing species known to create persistent sidewalk debris—and noted the guide was written as a living document that could be updated without formal code changes.
Members also raised concerns about recommendations that still list tree types for very narrow park strips (three to five feet). They suggested consolidating categories and removing recommendations for strips too narrow to support healthy trees. One committee member said the guide should be reviewed to remove species no longer available and to ensure recommended trees fit typical street and park-strip conditions in Draper.
The group cited an existing canopy-clearance reference in city code (noted at the meeting as a 15-foot roadside zone with an 8-foot clearance requirement) and emphasized that recommended species must comply with frontage and clearance standards. As a next step, the committee asked for a subcommittee to review the street-tree guide and to bring recommended edits back to the full committee for approval.
