City Hall ‘landscape-over’ nearing end of phase one; trees removed due to disease, splitting | Local News

During a recent project update to the City Council, Interim Director of the Recreation and Parks Department, Angela Osland, said the first and largest phase of the project will be completed in the next couple of months.

Osland said removing the trees was required due to age, disease and the fact that a city arborist found the trees to be splitting. Mayor Alice Patino and Councilmember Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez said they received phone calls expressing concern about the trees’ removal.

“I know we wouldn’t have taken them down unless something was wrong with them,” Aguilera-Hernandez said of the tree removal, while thanking city arborist Scott Christian for his work to protect trees in the city.

“It’s never an easy decision to be taking trees out; it’s not really the happy part of my job,” Christian said. “These trees had a good life, and in an urban situation we have to be a little harsher. We can’t have a tree that might fall over any day; and that big beautiful tree in the center started to fall apart as we were cutting it down.”

Oslund pointed out in her presentation that the large branches of one of the trees were held together with sections of cable and that when crews removed the cable the tree was unable to support its own weight, and split apart. 

The landscape project at City Hall has been underway for months, and was undertaken in response to an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom in the spring of 2022. The order directed state agencies, and local governments in California to replace “non-recreational turf” (turf not used for specific recreation purposes) with lower water-use plantings to achieve ongoing water conservation goals.

The project includes the front area along City Hall, the border landscaping wrapping around Cook Street to McClelland Street and along McClelland in front of the library. Various landscaping plots and beds on the City Hall property will also receive the water friendly upgrades. 

According to Osland’s report the project focused on turning non-functional grass areas into multiple educational gardens that brought the features of several garden styles to the City Hall property. 

Along Broadway, plantings will highlight a low-water use streetscape design, but the property will be divided into other spaces that will showcase lawn alternatives, a design of a Mediterranean garden, a water friendly shade garden,  and a desert and succulent garden. 

Space was also set aside for a low-water use garden featuring plantings native to California.

The new design for the large landscape section along Broadway includes a finished plaza-style event space in front of the old library, where an updated public mural was unveiled in 2023. The space was leveled, finished with pavers to make a safer gathering area and includes new electrical access for public events like the annual Christmas tree lighting.

Oslund said after the first phase of the project in completed, work will continue around the remainder of City Hall along Cook Street, before moving to the back parking area. 

The majority of the work has been completed by city staff, with assistance from several local contractors, according to staff. Work on the project is scheduled to be completed near the end this fall.

The community is invited to participate in the Santa Maria Police Department’s National Night Out celebration planned for Aug. 6, at the Santa Maria Fairpark. According to the City’s official proclamation, the evening is designed to “promote strong police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live and work.”

Santa Marians will join 38 million other community members in the United States, in U.S. territories and on U.S. military bases hosting the event — first celebrated in 1984 – alongside members of the Santa Maria Police Department, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol.