2007-02-02 TCELLCO - Laserfiche WebLink

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we feel that the swamp mahogany with the light foliage and the ironwood tress and the mixture would be a very natural way to accomplish that. And so that’s what we’re proposing here. I know that the proposed condition that had come to us had stated 30-foot high trees. One of the issues with these types of trees is they are very fast growing. That’s the first issue. And so typically in the landscape industry here you’re not going to have a lot of source for really large eucalyptus or ironwood trees or any other tree that would get to be the height that we’re looking at because it just doesn’t make much sense from a business standpoint. Typically my experience has been with landscaped projects here, these types of trees are specified, generally they’re grown out for the job because they grow so fast. You know, it’s not nursery stock. And so what we’re proposing here is to plant these of a smaller size and have them, and that way they would have the chance to acclimate to the environment and grow. And we think that they will do a lot better than say transplanting the existing eucalyptus that are in this area. Transplanting on the site and planting them, they might be 30 feet height. But the eucalyptus tree, in fact any of these really fast growing tall trees have very sensitive root systems and they have tap root. So when you transplant them you really set them back. You’ve got to cut them way back. The success rate is not that good. And, in effect, we’ve never really had the opportunity to even try to transplant a 30-foot high eucalyptus. We’ve tried to move smaller ones and it has never been that successful. The better way to do this type of planting is to come in with nursery grown container stock that’s really healthy, has a healthy root system, can be taken out of the container with a minimum of damage to the roots and planted, and then maintained properly so that we’ll achieve the heights that we want in the long-term. And so that was our thinking in terms of the species mix and also the sizes that we, you know, show in our testimony. Other than that, I know that, and in fact the applicant has related to me that they would be willing to go into a contract grower arrangement with the nurserymen to make sure that we have the trees that we need, you know, when we’re ready to plant. And so they’re willing to do that; and that’s very important because as I said these trees aren’t typically found in nurseries at any size. So in order to obtain them you would need to make preparations beforehand to have the nurserymen grow these trees out to the size that you would want. And so that’s our basic thinking on the plan. And we think that it’s something that could work really well. Eucalyptus trees grow very quickly once they’re established; and there is documentation, you know, showing that you can get a very good growth rate in an area like this with adequate maintenance. So we think that this will really work for the site; and that’s basically our plan that we would like to propose to you. GRAHAM: All right, thank you. Maybe this would be a good time to take some questions from the Commissioners. WATANABE: Mr. Chairman? GRAHAM: Commissioner Watanabe. WATANABE: My question is of you, the applicant. You know, because we just received this this morning and I don’t particularly want to continue this because it has been continued in the past, you had suggested some wording. But would you be willing to accept a wording EXHIBIT A 7