Granny, the heritage oak tree at the center of a battle between a coalition of North Fair Oaks residents and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), may be cut down despite the neighborhood’s best efforts to save the tree.
The centuries-old oak sits on a right-of-way owned by the SFPUC at 827 15th Ave. in North Fair Oaks. The commission initially planned to kill the tree in May on short notice, which riled Granny’s fans.
In an Aug. 26 letter from the SFPUC to the residents, the commission gave the coalition one more week to provide a written proposal that would let the public access the tree site.
“The agency stated previously that public access to the oak tree is a basic requirement before its Commission could reasonably consider the additional public funds needed to tunnel under the tree and preserve it,” the SFPUC said in a written statement about the deadline.
“Without a public access component, the SFPUC would move to avoid any further delays and costs to the project and ratepayers by having the contractor formally notice and prepare to remove the tree and install this segment of the regional drinking water pipeline.”
Earlier in July, the SFPUC asked the neighbors to form a nonprofit to handle maintenance, liability insurance, and public access should the commission decide to dig a $269,000 tunnel under the tree for a pipeline meant to carry water from the Hetch Hetchy as part of a $4.6 billion seismic improvement project.
Another possibility emerged during a subsequent meeting, when county staff said Assistant County Manager David Holland proposed seeing whether the county could take over caring for the oak.
In an email, coalition member Ron van Thiel told the Almanac that on Saturday, Aug. 28, the commission rejected a proposal to make a park on a parcel adjacent to the tree.
“We have been and continue to be working with the county, SFPUC and the neighborhood to come up with a plan for this park that is acceptable to all,” he wrote. “We are preparing a second proposal to meet their requirement of physical access to the tree itself while at the same time preserving security of the residents. We expect this proposal to be accepted by SFPUC.”
This is truly a crime against nature. Why must mans development be so blind. This tree has been here for hundreds of years, and yet somehow a pipeline plan ignores it and plods right through it. This is how we lose our connection to nature in our community. We don’t have hundreds of years to grow another one. We need to save this one.
I think SFPUC should avoid the tree, create a park for the county and have the county pick up the maintenance. They could tout this act as a service to the community and get great PR for their efforts.
I realize the SFPUC is probably short on budget and will say it can’t afford it, but they probably have a budget line item for PR and goodwill somewhere (or should have) and want to forge a mutual respect relationship to the community in which it serves.
Let’s all offer constructive ideas. I realize mine is novice and lacking in some of the facts and reality surrounding this case, but someone out there knows enough to propose a solution which serves us all.
Save Grandma!!!
Plant two new ones and get on with it.
Geez!
Walter, didn’t you read the prior post? It takes hundreds of years to replace the tree! Geez… perhaps you think all things old that get in the way of “progress” should just be destroyed to make room for the new generation?
It is only a tree. So plant 100 oaks.