Posted in reply to the post by sandoak:
The Tree Board meeting is Wednesday, January 16, 4 pm at Sebastopol City Hall.
And here's another viewpoint, from the Press Democrat:
Sebastopol rallies around the Bunya Bunya tree
Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 | Posted by Andrea Granahan | 4 responses
Sebastopol’s landmark tree at the corner of Morris St. and Sebastopol Ave. is not a native, but it has stood for so many generations as landmark that many were upset that it might have to go. There will be a meeting about it Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 4 p.m. at Sebastopol City Hall.
The tree is a Bunya Bunya tree from Australia and there has been speculation for years that it was planted by Luther Burbank. In Australia the tree is apparently considered sacred by the Aborigines.
Sebastopol’s Bunya Bunya is 80 feet tall, a male tree, so there is no danger from falling pine cones, but it is so old and has such a developed root system that the Barlow Project may be forced to cut it down to make room for a pedestrian crossing.
“This was discovered late in construction when they first went to start construction on the crossing,” said Sebastopol Planner Kenyon Webster.
The developers tried to get the Tree Board’s approval to cut the tree on Jan. 2 but the Tree Board of the Planning Department ruled there wasn’t enough public notice given and continued the item to the Jan. 16 meeting.
According to Yolanda Lopez, a representative of the Barlow, the owner Barney Aldridge is heartbroken. “He loves the tree. We’d love it if we could get the city and CalTrans to push back and relax their standards somewhat. We’ve had the city engineer, our engineer, a landscape architect and an arborist out there to look at it.”
Unless someone comes up with a solution at the Jan. 16 meeting it appears it’s bye bye Bunya Bunya, and the end of a living Sebastopol landmark.