Publication Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Guest Opinion: El Camino is up to speed with large shade trees
Guest Opinion: El Camino is up to speed with large shade trees
(June 30, 2004) by Betty Meltzer and Susan Rosenberg
A major element of Palo Alto's century-old vision for tree-lined streets is now taking root on the one street that needs it the most -- El Camino Real.
Technically, El Camino is California Highway 82 and under the jurisdiction of Caltrans. Historically, it is home to gas stations, restaurants and a hodge-podge of commercial buildings.
Aesthetically, it has largely been neglected -- and looks it.
Much of that is now changing.
The City of Palo Alto was happy to have a citizen's group, the Trees for El Camino Project, spearhead and organize a community-wide fundraising drive to fulfill the vision: that El Camino Real become a welcoming, tree-lined boulevard extending the length of Palo Alto from the Menlo Park border in the north to Mountain View in the south.
The city allocated funds, provided staff time, worked with Stanford University (over two miles of Stanford land fronts El Camino), and worked arm in arm with us to get this project off the ground. The Trees for El Camino Project went to work raising more than $250,000 from local residents, small businesses, and corporations to increase the number of trees planted in medians. We didn't achieve our larger, pre-dot-com-bust goal, but we did set in motion a project that continues to grow.
A big bump in the road occurred with Caltrans. While Palo Alto is responsible for the maintenance of the landscape, Caltrans had longstanding guidelines that only small trees, crape myrtles for example, could be planted in medians narrower than 12 feet. Never in a million years would a crape myrtle grow tall enough or broad enough to have the effect on El Camino Real that was envisioned for Palo Alto.
Caltrans had its rules -- but Palo Alto wanted more shade trees lining one of its major streets.
The city prevailed, thanks in large part to the efforts of both Assemblyman Joe Simitian and state Senator Byron Sher. They went to bat for us in Sacramento and negotiated a pilot project with Caltrans that would allow Palo Alto (as well as Menlo Park and Redwood City) to plant trees in narrower, 8-foot-wide medians.
The results are in: 70 trees were recently planted in the medians of El Camino Real from Embarcadero Road south to Park Boulevard. The new trees are a mixture of young valley oaks, cork oaks and London plane trees, intermixed with existing ginkgos and Italian stone pines.
A new irrigation system was installed to guarantee the young trees adequate water in their first critical years. As a result of consistent watering, especially during the recent hot spells, the young trees are flush with new growth.
The city is now setting its sights on planting medians in south Palo Alto. Achieving the goal of a "tree-lined boulevard" is difficult in this area because of Caltrans guidelines that prohibit the planting of large trees within 100 feet of a left turn lane. El Camino in south Palo Alto is chock full of left-turn lanes. At a minimum, the City of Palo Alto will plant medians between Maybell Avenue and Los Robles Avenue with approximately 40 to 50 trees. Design work and Caltrans approval should be completed by the fall with planting beginning next winter.
El Camino is ripe for development. Whether as a public or private project, this vision will continue to define the landscape of El Camino.
Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison says the city "will aggressively pursue both state and federal grant funding, and the opportunity for including funding for the El Camino plan as part of private redevelopment efforts along El Camino in future years."
As the fundraising aspect of the Trees for El Camino Project is put to bed, we are deeply thankful for all the hundreds of donors who joined with us in launching this growing effort to transform our stretch of California's most historic highway. We're heartened to know that our trees are in good hands and will be watched over by City Council, staff, tree crews and the nonprofit organization, Canopy: Trees for Palo Alto -- the steward of so many trees in "the city that loves trees."
Betty Meltzer and Susan Rosenberg are co-chairs of the Trees for El Camino Project. They can be e-mailed respectively at bobmeltz@aol.com and susanrosenberg@earthlink.net.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
