To a minimal audience at the
Big Bear Lake City Council meeting held on Monday, Mar. 24, the new
vegetation ordinance requires property owners to remove brush within 15
feet of a structure and to thin 7 species of brush took one step closer
to being law. A structure includes a deck or patio, while 5 types of
native brush (Manzanita, serviceberry, mountain whitethorn, sage and
mountain mahogany) will have to be removed and 2 types of ornamental
shrubs (Juniper and Spanish Broom) will have to be thinned. The City
Council waived the first reading of the ordinance and the second reading
of the ordinance will be done at the next City Council meeting.
Originally the City tried to
have a much more encompassing ordinance, which came up against a loud
cry from the public. That ordinance included trees less than 8-inches in
diameter within 15 feet of a structure would have to be removed. After
the loud outcry from the crowds of over 300 of the public, the City
decided to break down the ordinance into smaller ordinances.
There are two kinds of opinions
on this; one is that the fire fuel reduction within the city limits is a
necessity for fire safety and the other side wants to know that the City
won’t completely change the nature of a mountain community by the
removal of so many trees and native shrubs. Ed Wallace of the Sierra
Club praised the City for taking on such a difficult issue; however he
has reservations about many of the other ideas that were put forth in
the original ordinance.
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