Process to remove tree was followed

“Red Phone, I live off Watsonville Road near Monterey Road and I recently noticed the city is extending Butterfield Boulevard to Watsonville Road. In the process, they removed an incredibly beautiful Valley Oak tree maybe 400 to 500 feet from the east side of Monterey Road. It’s too late now to do anything, but was there a process they had to go through to remove it or did they just chop it down because it’s in the way. And where did all the wood go? It was a really big tree, probably more than 100 years old. I’m disappointed that its gone and would like to make sure the process to remove it was followed. That’s my concern Red Phone. Thanks.”

Red Phone: Dear Disappointed, Red Phone contacted Dave Gittleson, associate engineer for the city, who said that tree had to be removed in order to properly align Butterfield Boulevard with Watsonville Road. 

“Additional trees adjacent to West Little Llagas Creek and Watsonville Road are also planned to be removed this summer for the re-alignment of Watsonville Road,” Gittleson said.

More information on the design can be obtained on the city’s web site or by calling the Engineering Department. 

There is a process for properly removing trees for large projects such as the Butterfield Boulevard Extension, Gittleson said.

“For this project, an Environmental Impact Report was prepared in 1992, an amendment in 2005 and an Initial Study in 2010,” he said. “This particular tree is addressed in the Initial Study. A mitigation plan was included in the project to account for the adverse impacts determined in these environmental studies. In summary, the project is removing a total of 24 trees and 0.28 acres of habitat disturbance. The project will provide 113 new trees and 0.73 acres of new habitat to mitigate the losses due to the project. The tree removal posting and permit requirements were followed prior to the removal of the tree. The wood from the project went to Green Earth Enterprises in San Jose for recycling purposes.”

There you are, good caller. Hope that answers all your questions.