City Council

(11) 15-0499-S2 PLANNING AND LAND USE MANAGEMENT (PLUM) COMMITTEE relative to ongoing tree and biodiversity planning, strategies and/or efforts to protect and grow the City’s urban canopy; requiring the placement of trees, and timing of any tree removals, at an earlier phase in the land use/environmental review, and permitting review process, and thereby maximize City efforts to grow tree canopy coverage; and related matters. Recommendations for Council action:​ APPROVE the recommendations, contained in the Department of City Planning (DCP), Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), Bureau of Street Services (BOSS), and Board of Public Works (BPW) joint report dated July 28, 2023, amended by the PLUM Committee on August 1, 2023, as follows: Instruct the BOSS, Bureau of Engineering (BOE), DCP and LADBS, to expand process enhancements. Instruct the BOSS, BOE, DCP, and LADBS, to amend the City’s Landscape Ordinance with funding for full staffing implementation. Instruct the City Administrative Officer (CAO) to prepare a report with recommendations as to the fiscal impacts of this recommendation. Instruct the BOSS and the CAO to prepare a report with recommendations to complete the updated Urban Forest Fee Study. Instruct the BPW to recommend adoption of the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) upon its completion, to the City Council, inasmuch as neighborhood workshops and public outreach is being done in collaboration with the County of Los Angeles, and a survey for the project is in development and anticipated to commence in Fall 2023 and expected to be completed by 2025. Instruct the DCP, BOSS, and the BPW (Community Forest Advisory Committee and Office of City Forest Management), LADBS, and City Attorney, to prepare new Citywide Biodiversity and Tree Canopy Equity regulations and ordinances that may be needed. INSTRUCT the CAO with the assistance of the BOSS to prepare a report with recommendations as to any general fund impacts associated with additional staff recommendations, pending the findings contained in the forthcoming report with the non-profit, fuse corps, that will evaluate and provide recommendations to update the BOSS schedule of fees, which is expected to begin Spring 2024.  INSTRUCT the DCP, BOE, Los Angeles Fire Department, and LADBS, to report on the feasibility of adding a feature to the build la portal to track compliance with the protected tree ordinance and new citywide biodiversity and tree canopy equity regulations. REQUEST the City Attorney, with the assistance of the BOSS and BPW, to prepare a report with recommendations, on penalties that can be imposed for violations of the protected tree ordinance, and new citywide biodiversity and tree canopy equity regulations. Fiscal Impact Statement: None submitted by the DCP.  Neither the CAO nor the Chief Legislative Analyst has completed a financial analysis on this report.