City Councilman John Lee introduced a motion Tuesday calling for a review and update of LA’s decades-old tree-spacing guidelines, which he says may be unnecessarily preventing new trees from being planted in otherwise suitable locations.
The motion instructs the Bureau of Streets Services’ Urban Forestry Division and other relative departments to report within 90 days with recommendations to modernize the guidelines. The report is expected to evaluate existing standards and how they affect potential planting locations and identify policy, design and infrastructure changes that could expand the city’s tree canopy.
Many of the city’s spacing requirements are internal department policies rather than requirements set forth by ordinance, according to Lee’s office. The councilman argues that updating these practices could open up thousands of additional planting locations while protecting sidewalks, utilities, street lights, traffic visibility and public safety.
“Los Angeles has made expanding its tree canopy a priority, but some of the city’s own guidelines may be limiting where trees can actually be planted,” Lee said in a statement. “We need to make sure those rules reflect current standards and allow us to add shade where it is needed most without compromising safety or infrastructure.”
Lee also cited research by the USC Dornsife’s Spatial Sciences Institute and Public Exchange, which found that Los Angeles has some of the most restrictive internal street tree-spacing standards in the nation. The research indicates that updating these policies could increase the number of viable planting locations, in particular for neighborhoods facing the greatest heat burdens.