UPDATE: SFPUC GM Decides To Delay Construction

(UPDATED)

The general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission today requested a halt to construction around a centuries-old valley oak tree in San Mateo County while the agency considers alternatives to cutting it down.

In a letter to San Mateo County officials, SFPUC general Manager Ed Harrington said he has requested that an "avoidance area" be established around the tree that stands in a North Fair Oaks neighborhood, where the utilities agency is installing seismically reinforced pipeline to secure the safety of the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system.

Harrington, who said he is "personally evaluating" the situation, has directed the contractor to prepare two cost proposals: one that estimates the cost of boring a pipeline tunnel beneath the tree's roots, and one that considers cutting it down.

"I commit to you that the SFPUC will not direct the contractor to re-commence construction within the tree avoidance area before June 6, 2011," Harrington said in the letter.

Before that date, Harrington said, the SFPUC will complete a thorough review of arborists reports and meet with neighborhood residents, who on Monday began a campaign to save the tree they nicknamed "Granny." "I do see this as a positive sign," North Fair Oaks resident Wayne Cruz said of the letter. Cruz said the SFPUC and 15th Avenue residents will likely meet at the beginning of next week to discuss the tree's future.

The SFPUC has said that removing the tree is necessary to make way for the new pipeline, which is one of 81 projects that make up the $4.6 billion Hetch Hetchy system upgrade.

The delivery system supplies water to approximately 2.5 million Bay Area customers, according to the SFPUC.

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A lawyer for San Mateo County has asked the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to meet with residents of a North Fair Oaks neighborhood before cutting down a nearly 300-year-old valley oak tree they are trying to save.

SFPUC representatives met Tuesday with San Mateo County Deputy County Counsel Tim Fox and Planning Director Jim Eggemeyer over plans to remove the tree - nicknamed "Granny" - which stands in the path of the SFPUC's $4.6 billion project to seismically upgrade the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system.

"We met with the PUC and asked them to work more closely with the neighborhood," Fox said.

The tree stands on a narrow piece of property owned by the city of San Francisco that runs through private property in unincorporated Menlo Park, Fox said. "It's more complicated than saying someone has jurisdiction," Fox said.

The county's Heritage Tree Ordinance, adopted in 1977, recognizes specific species and sizes of county's trees as an "invaluable asset" and establishes guidelines for removing them, according to the ordinance.

Trimming or cutting down a heritage tree - like the valley oak slated for removal in North Fair Oaks - requires a special permit from the Planning Department.

The SFPUC maintains that that the Heritage Tree Ordinance does not apply because of "intergovernmental immunity," which prevents one governmental agency from restricting the activities of another, Fox said.

Fox agreed that pursuant to intergovernmental immunity, the SFPUC is exempt from the provisions of the heritage tree ordinance.

SFPUC spokeswoman Maureen Barry said the valley oak is slated to be cut down because its roots could threaten the seismic stability of a new pipeline being installed through the North Fair Oaks neighborhood as part of the upgrade.

The new pipeline, which will replace two aging pipes installed in 1925 and 1935, is responsible for supplying water to 2.5 million people on the Peninsula and in San Francisco, Barry said.

The SFPUC has been asked to meet with North Fair Oaks residents regarding possible alternatives to cutting the tree down, Fox said.

North Fair Oaks resident Wayne Cruz said today that the SFPUC plans to schedule a meeting with neighbors at the end of the this week or the beginning of next.

-Bay City News