Pasadena Unified board approves multisite soil-remediation plan, adds language to evaluate keeping protected trees

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday approved continuing implementation of a previously awarded multisite soil-remediation and site-restoration contract, adding two amendments that direct staff to "voluntarily evaluate potential retention alternatives for remaining protected trees," except those that would disrupt regular school operations or student life.

The vote followed more than two hours of public comment from residents, environmental advocates and technical experts who urged the board to pause or modify the project to avoid removing mature, native trees. Speakers repeatedly cited community and ecological harms, noting the district’s post-fire canopy losses and the long time — decades in some cases — required to replace mature trees.

"Our temporary restraining order, if granted, will temporarily stop the whole project," said Kristin Ochoa, a physician and representative of Friends of PUSD Trees, urging the district and DTSC to remove tree removal from the bundled soil-remediation work. "This is not our fault — DTSC elected to bundle tree removal into the soil remediation project," Ochoa said.

Many commenters and local arborists said alternative methods such as air excavation, hydro excavation, targeted near-root remediation and phytoremediation could allow soil cleanup while preserving mature trees. Parker Davis of Plant Community Los Angeles and others reported local bioremediation projects that reduced lead and other contaminants without removing trees, and multiple speakers cited a district list of about 193 trees initially slated for removal.

District staff and the project consultant described a compromise path. "We could use an air-excavation method and test around the trees," said Mr. Dunning, the district presenter, who said the approach would be slower and carry risks to tree survival but could allow many protected trees to remain if tests show levels low enough to put soil back and recompact. Staff estimated that about 55–57 trees meet the district’s current protected-species inventory and would be prioritized for evaluation.

Bridging the technical and regulatory question, Ben Stanfill, Southern California division chief for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), told the board DTSC would review the district’s proposals and is "somewhat agnostic to the trees." Stanfill said DTSC uses roughly 80 milligrams per kilogram of soil as a residential screening or cleanup reference for lead and that the agency can approve excavation, land-use covenants or long-term phytoremediation proposals on a case-by-case basis. Land-use covenants require annual monitoring and reporting; staff estimated monitoring costs at about $30,000 per year in perpetuity for sites placed under covenant.

Trustees’ questions centered on timing, safety and costs: remediation work must often be done when schools are not in session, limiting available windows; partial delays could require extended closures or restricted access at specific play areas; and entering a land-use covenant carries long-term obligations and monitoring costs. District staff said they were already working with DTSC and that retained trees would be evaluated one-by-one by an arborist and biologist, with DTSC re-testing and sign-off required before soil was returned around a retained tree.

A trustee moved to approve the staff recommendation with two edits: inserting the word "voluntarily" before the phrase about evaluating retention alternatives and carving out an exception to allow removal of protected trees that would disrupt regular school operations or student life. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

The board did not take any other reportable actions before adjourning. The amendments direct staff to pursue a tree-by-tree evaluation process and to report results publicly as remediation proceeds.

What’s next: staff will continue remediation work where it does not involve protected trees while conducting focused evaluations on protected trees identified in the district arborist inventory. DTSC said it will continue to work with the district on remediation options, pilot testing for phytoremediation where proposed, and site-specific agreements, including land-use covenants where removal is not practicable.

All quotes and factual details are drawn from the meeting record and staff presentations; where the transcript recorded an organization or consultant name whose spelling appeared unclear, the article attributes technical testing to the project consultant referenced at the meeting rather than relying on an uncertain transcription.