Contractor at root of bad trim

June Casagrande

Liquidambar trees on San Miguel Drive were severely trimmed because

of a mistake by inexperienced employees of the city’s contracted

tree-trimming service, General Services Director Dave Niederhaus said

Wednesday.

About 29 trees near the Broadmoor Sea View Development were pruned

so closely that it’s possible they won’t recover, which that has

upset residents who live near the trees. City staff members reported

earlier this week that they thought about half a dozen trees had been

affected, but a review on Wednesday showed that 29 were over-pruned.

Staff members conducted an investigation and announced Wednesday

that new crew members of West Coast Arborists were responsible.

“We found out there was a new set of tree trimmers working for

West Coast Arborists,” Niederhaus said. “One of the fellows must have

misunderstood their directions.”

The contractor has accepted responsibility. The company will

reshape the trees and then the city will wait six months to see if

they grow back. If the trees don’t recover, the company will pay the

cost of replacing the trees. Niederhaus said that the replacement

will be the largest liquidambars available, perhaps up to 15 or 20

feet tall. The value of all 29 trees is estimated at about $52,000.

Niederhaus said that the city has a long and successful

relationship with the contractor and that this is the only

significant exception to the company’s quality service.

“It’s just one of those things that sometimes can happen,”

Niederhaus said.

This incident was the only time that trees were overly trimmed by

the fault of a contractor.

Several years ago, a handful of trees in the Cliff Drive Park area

were drastically trimmed after a resident who helped pay for

supplemental trimming ordered workers to trim the trees more than the

city allowed. Those trees did recover.