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Open Space Committee recommends protection steps, debates creek hardscaping and olive trees
Summary
The committee reviewed landscape-screening plans and riparian conditions for multiple properties, recommended an open-space easement area (approximate 280-foot contour) or setback in some cases, and debated removal of stone hardscaping and the acceptability of olive trees; the group approved its recommendations for referral to planning.
Committee members reviewed several property files that raised riparian and landscape-screening issues, including a daylighted creek corridor with stone armoring and redwoods near the bank. The report recommended a proposed open-space easement in one parcel and called for riparian vegetation restoration where feasible.
The chair proposed a practical edit to the report language: rather than require immediate removal of existing stones, the narrative should call attention to the hardscape and encourage restoration where possible. "I think I would change recommend removal of hardscape materials in the creek," the chair said as part of a broader approach to state best practices, while acknowledging that some prior interventions are now permanent or costly to reverse.
Members questioned whether proposed olive trees should be recommended or discouraged; the committee agreed to soften prescriptive language about plant lists and to recommend native species where practicable. For one property, staff identified a preexisting storm-drain easement and the committee asked staff to confirm whether that easement provides equivalent protection to a formal open-space easement.
After edits and clarifying language, a motion to accept the committee's recommendations for the set of properties passed by voice vote.
