Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Outdoor Circle Talks about Trees and Transit
The City’s official comments about trees and TOC’s responses and reality:
From Street Trees Technical Report for Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Of the 889 removed trees, 517 could be transplanted. The tree’s maturity, condition, and location plus the economic feasibility were the main criteria considered in analyzing possible transplantation.
From The Outdoor Circle’s Comments on the DEIS Dated February 6, 2009
And DTS’s Response Dated June 11, 2010 (in italics)
TOC’s Comment:
Honolulu has fostered a worldwide image of being a city full of beautiful trees. It is an important part of Honolulu’s appeal to both residents and visitors. But the system’s chosen alignment will result in the removal of more than 800 street trees. About one-half to two-thirds of those trees will be transplanted to unspecified “appropriate areas,” but that leaves a possible deficit of more than 300 trees with no mitigation to the environment for the tree removals.
City’s Response:
Tree removals will be minimized to the greatest extent possible, but pruning is likely next to the guideway. Twenty-eight “Notable” true kamani trees along Dillingham Boulevard will be removed. Approximately 100 street trees will be pruned, 550 will be removed, and 300 will be transplanted. Mitigation measures will consist of transplanting existing trees or planting new ones.
TOC’s Comment:
Further, The Outdoor Circle knows how difficult it is to find available tree planting sites in our city. We believe the EIS must provide specific sites for tree relocations now. The language in the draft document is too vague. Please address this issue.
City’s Response:
Trees suitable for transplanting that are displaced by construction will be relocated to the City project nursery until they can be transplanted to another part of the project area.
Reality
The city nursery is located adjacent to Kapiolani Park. TOC was told recently that they do not have the facilities to maintain the large number of trees committed to in the FEIS.
City’s Obligation under FEIS
Section 4.15.1 states that coordination with Outdoor Circle was initiated at the start of the NEPA process and that coordination will be ongoing as the project progresses.
Reality
The Outdoor Circle had to initiate consultation with the city and coordination (so far) has been only at the organization’s instigation. TOC was told recently that DTS requires 92F requests (Hawaii equivalent of Freedom of Information Act requests) each time it wants to view documents. This makes the process extremely time consuming, cumbersome and not transparent.)