Park advisory committee recommends 2026 tree replacement plan, cites $500K preservation fund balance

Parks Superintendent Brian Swoboda presented the Park and Rec Advisory Commission with the 2026 tree replacement plan and asked the committee to recommend the plan to City Council.

Swoboda summarized the tree preservation fund policy (approved by the city council on Feb. 10, 2003) and said eligible uses include tree purchase and planting, maintenance, irrigation, pruning and work to respond to hazard trees and disasters. He told commissioners the fund balance as of February 2026 was "slightly over $500,000" and staff proposed a $98,000 plan that would leave the fund with about $400,000.

The plan anticipates removing approximately 100 hazard trees and planting more than 50 new trees; Swoboda explained hazard removals are often in wooded or trail-edge areas where one-for-one replacements in the exact footprint are not feasible. He also described projects for stump grinding, shrub replacement and reintroduction of goats for invasive-species control.

Commissioners asked how the fund is financed; Swoboda said revenues come from developers that remove trees and are required either to plant replacements or pay into the fund. When asked why the plan listed more removals than plantings, Swoboda said hazard trees are commonly in areas where replacement plantings would not make sense for mowed parkland.

After questions the committee moved, seconded and recommended that City Council approve the 2026 tree replacement plan as presented; the motion passed by voice vote with no recorded opposition.