Unsafe, 80-year-old eucalyptus trees will be removed in Corona del Mar

Thirty-six desert gum eucalyptus trees that are among the oldest in Newport Beach will be removed over the next three weeks in Corona del Mar because they have been deemed unsafe.

The trees to be removed are on Poppy Avenue, Ocean Avenue and East Coast Highway, City Manager Dave Kiff said. The 80-year-old trees can’t be saved, and community discussion about their removal is not on the table, he said.

Kiff said the decision to remove the trees was painful.

There is “no alternative that I can offer,” he wrote in a letter that Poppy Avenue residents received Wednesday. “I certainly share your sadness and mine that this has to occur, and lament the fact that trees don’t live forever.

“But age and declining health dictate that these trees need to come down before they come down on their own and at random, likely harming life and property.”

The letter referred to an incident in 2011, when a woman was killed when a blue gum eucalyptus fell on her car on Irvine Avenue.

That incident, he said, occurred “on a clear, windless, late summer afternoon in September.”

“With Santa Ana wind season pending, a possible El Nino winter, and layering on the drought’s impacts on all of our trees, I never want to be in that place again,” he said.

The trees to be removed are being marked with an X, he said. Once the removal is complete, residents will be asked to discuss reforestation as well as possible changes to the configuration of Poppy Avenue, its sidewalks and its pavement. Those discussions will occur in October, he said.

Residents expressed sadness at the fate of the trees.

Tracey Funke and her family have lived in the 200 block of Poppy Avenue for the past four years. They moved there from nearby Flower Street because they loved the eucalyptus trees and the tall canopy that frames an ocean view.

“That’s the whole look of the street,” she said. “That’s what gives it its feel. You can’t replace 80 years of growth with a sapling.”

Funke wondered if removing the trees is being overly cautious

“I think it’s so alarmist,” she said. “They are just finding excuses. What about the electrical wires hanging over everyone’s garages? Could those be a fire hazard? Should they go into all the parks and take all the trees down just as a precaution? This is extreme, and I wonder if it’s an informed decision.”

Former City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner, who lives in Corona del Mar and has championed the Poppy Avenue trees, said the trees are victims of uninformed decisions made decades ago.

“Unfortunately, all those years ago when so many of the trees were planted, there was no idea of the ultimate size or suitability for the site,” she said. “That’s why we need a long-term plan to slowly replace some mature trees so that we have trees of different ages on each block.

“Meanwhile, despite the tradition of one type of tree on each street, we now have several choices so that when a disease occurs we don’t end up with nothing but tiny trees on a block.”

Ron Yeo, who has worked on the Corona del Mar Residents Assn.’s reforestation committee, said the news of the trees’ removal was a shock.

“I have been told that the Public Works Department staff and their consultants were working on preparing short- and long-range goals and implementation on how to treat this historical tree-lined street,” he said of Poppy Avenue. “It will be difficult to replace this treescape with anything significant. Quite a loss for our village.”