Santa Rosa Municipal Code Art. I Intent and Purpose

The City Council finds and declares that trees contribute greatly to the health, safety and general welfare of all of the City's citizens and that the preservation and proper maintenance of trees is a matter of citywide concern. The City Council further finds and determines that it is necessary to enact regulations prohibiting unnecessary damage, removal, or destruction of trees.

The City Council recognizes and finds that trees provide great aesthetic benefits, offer windbreaks, provide summer shade, noise abatement, and privacy screening, erosion control, act as filters against airborne pollutants, release oxygen, are wildlife habitats, and prevent landslides through their root systems. All trees perform these functions for the property on which they are growing. Trees of significant size and maturity perform these functions for all persons living in their vicinity. Trees are key elements in a living system the boundaries of which do not conform to the arbitrary property lines of individual lots and parcels and upon which the continued health and welfare of this community depends. In addition, trees in the community and in a neighborhood provide a sense of identity and tradition and enhance property values.

The City Council further finds and declares that careless treatment and arbitrary removal of trees detracts from scenic beauty, causes erosion, increases risks of landslides, reduces property values, increases construction costs and drainage costs, and thereby further reduces the attractiveness of an area.

A purpose of the City Council in enacting the following regulations is to protect certain trees that are an essential part of the City's natural heritage, referred to in this chapter as heritage trees, wherever they may be growing in the City, while, at the same time, recognizing an individual property owner's right to utilize his or her land in a way that is otherwise allowed by law.

(Ord. 2858 § 1, 1990)