The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-07-24
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (17,605 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The Portland City Council Climate Resilience and Land Use Committee met on Thursday, July 24, 2025, beginning around 9:31 a.m. Roll call was conducted, and the committee first considered appointments to the Portland Clean Energy Fund Committee, hearing from a bureau program manager and several appointees or reappointees about the fund's purpose, recruitment process, and their backgrounds; discussion covered committee roles, the Climate Investment Plan, funding scale, and coordination between council and the committee. A vote occurred on referring the appointments to full council with a recommendation for confirmation, with the outcome recorded in the vote ledger. The committee then turned to the Portland Urban Forest Plan update, receiving a presentation from Portland Parks and Recreation staff on canopy goals, equity considerations, funding tied to the Portland Clean Energy Fund, tree code issues, cross-bureau coordination, and data collection methods. Councilor questions addressed canopy-heat correlation, industrial area goals, street tree maintenance costs, and permitting. Public testimony followed from multiple speakers addressing canopy equity, industrial land constraints, tree preservation, maintenance funding, and community engagement. The session concluded with discussion of incorporating public feedback before the plan returns as a resolution in mid-September, and the meeting adjourned at 11:21 a.m.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
0 My name is meg or megan horst. I use she her pronouns and I'm here to. I Portland city councilors. My name is meg.
1 Good morning. I call the meeting of the climate resilience and land use committee to order. It is Thursday, July 24th at 9:31 a.m. Rebecca. Oh, wait. Gaveling in. Rebecca, will you please call the roll?
2 Good morning. Canal. Ryan.
3 Novick here.
4 Avalos.
5 Present.
6 I'm going to go back to Ryan. I see councilor Ryan online.
7 I also see his folder on the table.
8 So Morillo here. Okay.
9 Good morning everyone. We have three items on our agenda today. First, we'll consider the appointment of the Portland clean energy fund committee. And we'll have a presentation on the urban forest plan. This is going to be followed by an opportunity for public testimony on the current draft plan. I will note for anybody here today or tuning in, that there will be another opportunity for public public comment at a future meeting where the urban forest plan returns to the committee as a resolution, and that's likely going to happen sometime in mid September. And rebecca, will you please read the first item?
10 Item one appoint members to the Portland clean energy fund committee.
11 This item comes to us from the bureau of planning and sustainability, and I will hand it off to staff to talk to us about the PCEF committee and the slate of appointees before us today.
12 Okay.
13 Welcome, sam.
14 Wonderful. Good morning. Good morning. Co-chairs Novick and Morillo. For the record, my name is sam brosseau. I'm the program manager for the Portland clean energy community benefits fund. And I'm here before you to present the mayor's appointees and appointees for your confirmation to the pef committee for your consideration. Let me go ahead and make my screen full sized, and we will get started. All right. In this brief presentation, I'll provide an overview of the committee's purpose, outline our recruitment and selection process, and then introduce today's nominees and appointees. And then you'll get to hear directly from a few of our appointees and appointees, as well as a video from from a member that could not make it today. So we'll just start off with just a quick background on the pcf committee. So as a reminder, the ballot measure that established the Portland clean energy community benefits fund both established the funding mechanism. The areas that the program invests in or funds in, as well as the pcf committee, which was intended to provide oversight of the program itself. Now, the pcf committee is a nine member body volunteer body that is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by you all city council committee members. Terms are staggered with four year appointments, and I'll start with that by just sharing that the committee's primary responsibility is developing the climate investment plan. But there are more roles that we'll talk about in the next slide. Committee members must reflect diverse lived experience, and the committee as a whole must have expertise in each of our key funding areas. And as we step back, the committee is ultimate responsibility is to be representatives of the community, provide feedback, oversight and perspective to protect the purpose of the fund. Now, the primary roles of the pcf committee are to one. Adopt a methodology to measure, track and report on the effectiveness of the program. Two adopt a workforce and contractor equity plan, and then a few things that ultimately come before you all. And those are recommending to you all city council, the climate investment plan, recommending amendments to the climate investment plan, of which you will hear some later this year, as well as recommending changes to the pcf code. Okay. And with that, I'm going to move into just providing an overview of our recruitment process and walk you through that before I introduce our appointees and appointees. So first, our application process kicked off in winter and ultimately closed in March of 2025, where we received about 32 applications for two open positions. We began the review starting with city staff and a subcommittee of the committee that comes together to review all the applications and score the applicants. They ultimately invited back four applicants for interviews, and then the subcommittee that considers a recommends appointees ultimately recommended two of those candidates to the full piece of committee for appointment. And in April of 2025, the full PCEF committee acted on that and made recommendations formally to the mayor to appoint the members before you here today. And now we're before you. We're here before you, as the mayor is recommending those appointments and reappointments to you all. Now, this is just a quick overview of the process, but I will name that we will come back before you all later this fall or winter, with additional appointments to the committee as other members terms expire. And so with that, we're going to jump into our appointments, our appointees and our appointees. And what I'll do here is I'll call up each I'll briefly just share a little bit about each member. Then I'll invite them to share a few comments. And we've got one of our individuals, at least on zoom. And as I noted earlier, we have a video for one of the individuals. So I'll start first with our new appointees. First. Anna allen is a member of the shoshone-bannock bannock tribes and currently serves as regional government affairs director for the columbia river inter-tribal fish commission. She brings 15 years of experience in community centered policy, equity, tribal government engagement, including leadership roles at Multnomah county and supporting many advisory boards, as well as being on advisory boards here at the cities focused on housing houselessness civil rights and indigenous representation. And so before I jump to andrea, I'm going to go ahead and see if anna is with us on zoom online and give her a moment to just share a few of her reflections and comments before you all.
15 Good morning sam. Good morning commissioners or councilors? My bad. I don't really have much else to share other than just for the record, my name is anna allen and as sam mentioned, I'm a member of the shoshone-bannock tribes and I'm really honored to be here this morning and appreciate the flexibility in allowing me to participate virtually as I am currently out of the state for work. So thank you for that flexibility. And I currently serve as the regional government affairs director for the columbia river inter-tribal fish commission and our four member tribes, which is actually why I'm working today on policy issues very related to today's discussion. In fact, we're talking about our energy vision. And so I just find that kind of synergy really thoughtful and wanted to mention that. And my professional background has been really centered around advancing equitable policy within governmental systems and conducting outreach and engagement activities within diverse communities and working across federal, state and local governments, alongside with tribal governments and urban indigenous communities on policy initiatives where there's alignment. And I just want to also share, I think my personal background, you know, as a member of the shoshone-bannock tribes and an indigenous woman, the values and traditions and concerns that I've been really rooted in my entire life are deeply intertwined with the health of our environment and the well-being of our people and the sustainability of natural resources that have provided for tribal people and other communities for generations. And so just really honored to be considered and really looking forward to bringing all of my professional and personal experience to see how I can be an value add to this work. Thanks, sam.
16 Thank you. Anna. All right, next up we have andre lightsey walker. So andre is a senior transportation planner at Oregon metro and a longtime advocate for equitable, community driven climate solutions. Prior to his role at metro, andre was planning and program manager at the street trust, and as a fourth generation portlander, his work has consistently focused on prioritizing underserved communities through inclusive planning, grant making, and sustainable transportation policy. With that, I will turn and see andre with us. Andre, come on board.
17 Thanks so much. Good morning councilors. I just wanted to introduce myself and thank you so much for the opportunity to potentially serve on pcf. Like sam mentioned, my name is andre walker. I use he him pronouns. I just really want to share with you all my commitment to the city. My great grandparents moved to Portland in the 1930s. At that time, Portland was still segregated. They were forced to live in a specific neighborhood. I have a commitment to this place and making it better for the generations to come. I have committed my entire career to public service and would continue to do this through this role, and I just really appreciate you all for this opportunity.
18 Thank you.
19 Yeah.
20 Thank you. And, andre, maybe just hang here because we may have questions at the end of this for you. Okay. So now our next two folks have been alongside the program from the very start of the program. And I thank them both, certainly from the bottom of my heart for their continued service. And so with that, I'll start with just speaking a little bit about robin wang. So robin has been with pcf since its inception. He's a social entrepreneur, finance expert who has led community focused capital investments across nonprofits, cdfis, as well as the startup sectors. He's currently working with Oregon deq to launch the community, the state's community climate investment fund, and in that, he supports bringing alignment with peace mission to invest in climate solutions that center equity and impact. So with that, I'll bring robin up before we speak to our last person.
21 Good morning. For the record, my name is robin wang, and it's an honor to be here again. Excuse me. And I'm excited to, you know. Recommit. We get, you know, continue my tenure on the pcf committee. It was really an honor and exciting to be part of the team, to launch the fund. And currently, as you all know, we're in the middle of the existing climate investment plan. And, you know, my if reappointed this term would kind of coincide with the wrapping up of the current investment plan and handing it off to future committee members for the next round of the climate investment plan. So for me, it's kind of a nice bookend to my service on this committee and to Portland. Sam pretty much summarized my background and credentials. So I'll save everybody time and just stop here. Thank you.
22 Thank you robin. Okay, now, if you bear with me for just a moment, I'm going to go ahead and bring up meg, who couldn't be with us today but was willing to share a little video. So I'm going to bring that up here. All right y'all, let's hope the audio is perfectly, perfectly tuned up.
23 Hi Portland city councilors. My name is meg or megan horst. She her pronouns and I'm here to enthusiastically express my interest in being reappointed for the pcf community advisory committee. I've been on the committee since the beginning, from the original five appointees, and over that time, I've also served as co-chair for a few years and have been in front of you in that capacity. And I have found it very meaningful and important to help Portland launch the first of its kind program in the entire nation and to set up accountable accountability practices, transparency, and to celebrate our successes. I bring a lot of technical and professional expertise, as well as lived experience from my daily life and my professional and academic training and background. I was a professor at Portland state university for nine years, and also served as director of the masters of urban and regional planning program, and I bring a phd in urban planning focused on food systems, land use planning and climate resilience. So with that background, I bring a lot of generalized climate action planning background, as well as technical expertise in Green infrastructure and urban regenerative agriculture. The two areas I focus on on the committee. I also bring a lot of deep analytical work and social equity and climate equity. And in my current role, I'm a climate equity senior advisor at cascadia consulting group. This logo here, and that's a firm based in seattle. And one of our main roles is to help local governments like Portland and many other across the pacific northwest, develop and implement climate action plans and chapters of their comprehensive plans. So in addition to my technical expertise, I also bring external perspective that can help Portland reflect on what other cities are doing, perhaps better than it, and help it do better. And also to celebrate what Portland is doing. Great. And so far, pcf has been a really bright spot in terms of climate action and in terms of investing in our amazing city. So thanks for considering my reappointment.
24 Okay. All right. I think with that, I'll just say thank you for your time and support of the PCEF committee. Certainly, as you see, this group brings just a deep policy knowledge and experience and unwavering commitment to the work that we do in pcf. And we look forward to answering your questions and appreciate your time here. Back to you. Co-chairs, Morillo and Novick.
25 Thank you so much, sam. Really appreciate you being here. And thank you to our appointees for being here to answer questions as well. I will turn it over to see if my colleagues have any questions or hands raised for discussion. I see that we have no people signed up for testimony right now, so we'll just move straight into discussion. Councilor Avalos.
26 Good morning. Thank you so much for wanting to be part of this. You know, the pcf is a really important committee because I think what you all do is just model the way that we want to engage the community and helping us make these big decisions, especially about these investments. And so I guess my broad question I want to ask is, how can we, as city councilors in this new form of government, as we are looking at, you know, a new climate investment plan process that's going to need to start soon, how do you feel we can best partner with the pcf? What's the best way for you all to engage with us and us to engage with you?
27 Sure. I'll take that question. I think really, you know, stay engaged. You know, it's the development of the cip is a community engagement process. And the first round, you know, sam and his team did a fantastic job in engaging community, engaging people and getting that feedback. And, you know, I think the role that the prior council had, you know, was more receiving that information and now with the new form of government and expanded council, I think there is more opportunity for engagement, not just waiting until the very end and seeing a report, but, you know, engaging early on, asking questions, connecting us with ideas and thoughts and, you know, providing that feedback early on and throughout the process.
28 Thank you so much for that question. That right then and there already sort of warms my heart about the potential for collaboration. I think as I think about pcf and sort of the work ahead, I think boldness is something that really emerges for me. I think being not afraid to lead the way in innovation and so having conversations about how we can really transform this city, I grew up understanding Portland as a city of visionaries, and so I would really like to reinstate that sort of ethos through this relationship.
29 Thank you for your answers. And maybe somebody was online if they wanted to chime in.
30 Thank you. Councilor. You know, I think what my colleagues have shared is really something that aligns with myself. I really do. You know, I always bring kind of the, the, the desire to develop an equity framework together. So I think the city, the council and, and pcf coming together to be able to do that and really identify areas where there's where joint planning can happen, and especially around prioritizing investments and making sure that these two decision making bodies really have alignment within that.
31 Thank you for your answers. I'll just add that I went to a event a few months ago just talking with environmental leaders in east Portland with 350 pdx. And one of the things that a member of thrive east pdx said was that sf is a bright light for east Portland, and I think it's the work that pcf does, the dollars and investment that it puts into east Portland is really important. And so I guess I would also just add, I'd love to see how we could talk about some district specific community engagement. I'd love to work with pcf to bring you all out, to talk about what east Portland needs. And, you know, we're going to talk in the next item about the urban forest plan. And that's an area of interest for sure, as we desperately are lacking in tree canopy in east Portland, as you know. So I would, you know, invite you all to think about how we could do some really localized engagement with pcf now that we have districts. Thank you for your time and your service.
32 Thank you. I see we have councilors Ryan and then Novick next.
33 Thank you chair. Welcome. And thank you. Thank you, megan, for continuing your service. I've had more meetings with you than probably anyone else on the committee. You and ran first because of your leadership roles. And I just really want to acknowledge the building work that you've done, and you've really shown up with a lot of transparency. And I thank you for signing up for more time. Robin, thank you for continuing your service as well. And both new appointments. Your passion is easy to catch andre here in the dais. So thank you for being here. And ana, my question to you is my goodness, you're also aren't you also on the homeless. So soc committee. Is that the right title. The steering committee.
34 Yes. Councilor that is correct. I do also serve on the soc committee. You know, I believe I've shared this in the past with the council, but my growing up, my mother would always drag me to all sorts of committee meetings. And so it's, you know, that community involvement, that civic engagement has always been kind of flowing through my veins. But she always would tell me, you know, pick three things that you care about to have a meaningful impact. Give your time to one, give your money to another, and then invest in your own learning on the third. And so housing and homelessness is an issue that has impacted my family, and that's why I serve in that role. It is a one year appointment. And so that will come to an end at some point relatively soon. And you know, this is also this topic in PCEF in the work of PCEF is very much aligned with who I am as an indigenous woman. My community is in the challenges that they face and also just my professional background. And so this is very much in alignment with the volunteer work that I want to do.
35 Well, two things on that. It's apple season, so apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And so your mom's proud of you. And then two, I just hope that you look for the intersections of the two committees that you're on because there are some and I don't think they get daylighted enough. So my big question or just I like to get people to think out loud, sam knows this. And thank you, sam, for your good work. The tension that has been from the beginning that I've experienced being on the receiving end, as you said, was that it's a big pot of money, bigger than anyone imagined. You had voters that predominantly went, yes, to clean air, but weren't really into the details of what this really meant. I've heard that from too many people to not say that out loud, and half of them are really supportive of where we're at, and half of them are like, what's happening? What is this? Why are you sitting on that money? How are you using that money? How can the city and it's challenging times with our budget leverage those funds to have impact for the mission of sf. Yet that goes against many of the people who brought this to the market, put it on the ballot with different visions. So there you go. I try to do the best I could to say there's tension there. We all know it. What are some of your thinking about how we manage that tension and how we keep moving forward to make smart investments for the climate?
36 I think for me, again, is having a dialog, right? If you look at the initial ballot initiative and the studies that led up to it, right, everybody was expecting 30, $50 million of funding. Right. And you have that framework of how the funds would be deployed. You have a framework in terms of how the organizations can be built around that. Right. And, you know, it was, as we all know, a gross underestimation of the actual revenue, the receipts that that came from it. And, you know, it's a different beast, right? It's, you know, almost ten times as much money. And the way you deploy 300, $400 million a year is very different from, you know, 30 million, 40 million. And you need a different vehicle. You need a different way of doing it. Yet we all entered the program with one anticipation. So, you know, I think we're fortunate to have the additional funds. But, you know, we are in a position where we just didn't anticipate it. And I think as, as and the current cip was kind of forced to adapt to this new reality. And I think the opportunity, you know, as we start looking at the next sip is to know, okay, we know how much money is involved, right? And we can kind of almost start with a blank slate in terms of defining that. And I think, you know, it's just we know the numbers now and we hear what community wants. We hear what, you know, elected officials want. And I think it's just having a good conversation around what is the reality that that we're going to be looking into the next few years. Not a not a patchwork. The current cip is kind of a patchwork, right? And, you know, it is what it is.
37 Thank you for.
38 Thank you for stepping up again for more service, because the way you answered that question just showed you have a lot of knowledge and that you're objectively thinking out loud on how to move forward.
39 I won't be involved with the next cip.
40 Wait.
41 I 2027, will be involved.
42 If it's okay. Co-chairs Morillo co-chairs.
43 Know most people don't know what you mean when you say cip.
44 They're listening.
45 So when you do acronyms, maybe that's what even lost me.
46 The current climate investment plan in terms of the duration of the climate investment plan, cip and June of 2029, however, we will begin the development that it will be about a 15 month development cycle, and we will begin developing that in the beginning of 2027. And so, robin, you will be with us for the first. Not so.
47 Fast, right? It's like, wait a minute. You're here for the.
48 Hard stuff.
49 Thanks.
50 Anyone else want to say anything about that? Megan's not live, is she?
51 That was.
52 No, no, megan could not join us.
53 All right, all right.
54 New people.
55 Okay.
56 I'll just quickly say I'm not familiar with all of the tension points, but I can speak to sort of how I navigate tension. I think it's something to be celebrated. I think often people maybe cower at that at those moments. And I think that's really an opportunity to dig in and really ask the real questions. And I trust the people of this city. And so I know that we can always turn to them to get the answers we need. We have experts on the PCEF committee, and I think if we're bold and willing to have tense conversations, we'll get great results.
57 Thank you, thank you. We don't need bullies stopping the dialog. We do need to embrace the tension. Thank you.
58 Thank you, councilor Ryan. Before we move on to councilor Novick's questions. Sam, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to give, like, a more technical answer about the PCEF dollars that we currently have and how they've been allocated, because it's my understanding that while we have a large pot of money there, most of those dollars have already been allocated to projects over long term for long term use, so that there can be continuity in the programs that we're implementing. And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to that.
59 Thank you. That's correct. Co-chair Morillo co-chairs. Novick. The quick is that, yes. Through 2029, the resource that we have all great and substantial have been allocated, meaning that we are busy standing up programs that so and that's that's always the challenging part of the start of anything, whether it's 82nd avenue and some of the bus rapid transit investments there, which will take time to materialize. But we've made, for instance, there are $55 million commitment. Similarly, we've made commitments in broadway quarter. We've made commitments to a range of our community grants, as well as strategic programs that will run, you know, that take a significant time and investment from developing the RFP, bringing on our administrators and running those programs. And so that's the busy work that you see here. I think it feels I can appreciate that question of some instances where some of the things that are happening are marquee program cooling. Portland folks feel that we've installed over 15,000 cooling units across the city, and that is churning along. That program got established almost three years ago now. And so what you're seeing now is just the cip that we just adopted a year and some change ago is getting up to speed, and you're going to start seeing those. And so the resources by and large have been fully allocated. We'll come back to you all this fall to speak to where those are, where there's underspending, where there's overperformance and but but correct councilor Morillo that that the resources through 2020 are allocated. And we'll be excited to talk about that next phase so we can essentially when we get to June of July 1st of 2029, we're ready to hit the ground running right then so that we, you know, we're not spending so much time in the lag of building up programing.
60 Thank you sam, I appreciate that. Councilor Novick.
61 I, I.
62 Just want to express my delight that each and every one of you either returning or joining. Robin, I was glad to hear you talk about the current cip being kind of a patchwork. I mean, I'm not asking you to agree with this, but another member of the current committee described the process over the past several years as first, we were reacting to community grant requests, then we were reacting to demands from council that suddenly realized we had a lot of money. And the next gap gives us an opportunity to be more proactive and deliberate. I mean, knowing how much money we have, as you said, it's like really appreciated that, that optimistic comment. And I really appreciate the different perspectives that miss allen, mr. Walker will bring. And, andre, I should tell you that I'm really delighted to have somebody with transportation background joining the committee, and I we'll be looking to you for your thoughts on how, not just through pcf, but through city policies and coordination with pcf and coordination with the policies of the other government. We can make decisions that result in a more livable community and reducing carbon emissions. So please expect to hear from us, you know, for your general thoughts on transportation policy, not just PCEF investments.
63 I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.
64 Awesome. Thank you all so much. I don't see any other hands raised, so I'll just add that I'm really excited to see everyone join this committee. And I'm excited about the wide variety of voices, perspectives, and levels of expertise that we have. So thank you all for being here today. And with that, I would like to entertain a motion to send the appointments of anna allen and andre lightly walker and the reappointments of robin wang and megan horst to the Portland clean energy fund committee to the full council, with a recommendation that the appointments be confirmed.
65 So moved.
66 Second.
67 Moved by councilor Avalos and seconded by councilor Novick. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?
68 Ryan I.
69 Novick I.
70 Avalos I.
71 Maria I.
72 And the motion to refer the report document number 2025 291 to full council with the recommendation that the appointments be confirmed is approved.
73 Wonderful. Thank you all so much for your time today. Appreciate you.
74 Thank.
75 You, thank you. And clerk, will you please read the next item?
76 Item two Portland urban forest plan update.
77 Oh, I'm sorry, would you read the next two items so that we can open both the presentation and public testimony to pivot between the two.
78 And item three public hearing on Portland urban forest plan update.
79 Thank you so much. In September, the committee will be considering a resolution to adopt updates to the urban forest plan. As an introduction to the conversation, Portland parks and recreation has offered to brief the committee on the proposed updates to the plan, and this is going to be our chance to ask questions and offer initial input. After the presentation and committee discussion, we'll open it up for public testimony. And I see we are going to have a few speakers here today, including dca, donna paul, is she in the room with us today?
80 Dca donna paul had a conflict and is trying to get here in time. We're prepared to proceed. And she wanted us to because she's not here yet.
81 Gotcha. Okay. Thank you so much. Acting director sonia shymansky.
82 Donna paul is here.
83 Oh, hi. Good to see you. Dca. And then belinda youdelman from planning and policy analyst with the Portland urban forest plan project. And jen cairo. Is everyone in the room now? Yes.
84 We're ready.
85 Okay, great. Well, we will go ahead and get started then. Thank you so much.
86 Good morning. Co-chairs Morillo and Novick and councilors. My name is priya paul. I'm the deputy city administrator for public works. I apologize, I'm catching my breath. I'm running out at the meeting. So this morning, Portland parks and recreation's urban forestry division is presenting the public draft of the Portland urban forest plan. No action is required of this committee today. This is an opportunity for council to be briefed on the draft plan and provide guidance to inform the final draft, which will be submitted to the council in September. We want to use this opportunity to hear your priorities. The plan is coming to city council after two years of community listening and engagement, technical analysis and collaboration across city bureaus and with regional and state partners. The Portland urban forest plan is a guiding document for how we preserve, grow and care for portland's trees. It presents a unified community vision and clear direction for city staff and leaders to guide investments, programs and policies. The plan builds on previous efforts, including the current 2020 2004 urban forest management plan, and supports other adopted plans and policies such as the comprehensive plan and climate action plan. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to jen cairo, the city's urban forester, and belinda gentleman, the plan's project manager.
87 Thank you, donna paul. Good morning, councilors, I'm jen cairo. I use she her pronouns. I'm the city forester and manager of the urban forestry division. And with me today is belinda youdelman, our project manager for the Portland urban forest plan. This morning we are really excited to be presenting the public draft to you. We'll have a 20 minute presentation, give or take, and then happy to answer any questions and hear your feedback about it. This plan comes to you in a moment of transition for urban forest management in the city. Recent direction from city council through the budget process has reshaped the urban forestry program with permitting, regulation and compliance functions, moving from Portland parks and recreation to Portland permitting and development in the in the fall, we're working closely in partnership with our colleagues in pmd to ensure a smooth transition to this new normal. At the same time, some exciting and transformative programmatic and policy developments are well underway. Thanks to funding from the Portland clean energy fund, the city's tree planting program is ramping up to plant 10,000 trees each year. Just this past month, we established several new tree planting contracts with partners including friends of trees and other nonprofits, as well as commercial companies. We now have a total of 32 contractors involved in the city's tree planting programs. That's up from three contractors just three years ago. Pcef funds are also supporting shifting the maintenance responsibility for street trees from property owners to the city. Those funds have also enabled us, enabled us to eliminate or reduce most tree permit application fees that began smoothly this past July 1st. We also want to express that this updated plan has been developed alongside multiple efforts to ensure the tree code evolves, alongside changing priorities in the city. This includes the code alignment project, which pauses certain tree code provisions in development, and an administrative rule to make tree planting easier for portlanders. Finally, we'll soon begin two significant efforts in which city council has expressed interest. First, we'll be recruiting for new urban forestry commission members this fall, and we're committed to ensuring that selection process incorporates any guidance council would like to provide. We've already worked with the chief sustainability officers team to model the urban forestry commission recruitment after their work creating the new climate and sustainability commission. Lastly, following adoption of the urban forest plan, we'll begin work on amendments to title 11, the city's tree code. While the plan does not call for specific code amendments, it does set a vision and management goals and includes community feedback to guide those code changes. We're eager to partner with council on this important project. In presenting the plan this morning, we'd like to begin by sharing some overarching information on the state of the urban forest in Portland today. Portland's tree canopy is one of the city's defining characteristics and a key driver of our identity and our appeal. Rather than something nice to have, urban trees are essential to the health and economic well-being of the Portland community, and a critical aspect of any climate response and resilience strategy. The cooling provided by urban forests increases community resilience to worsening heat waves. Access to trees also improves mental health strength, strengthens immune systems, reduces crime, and improves student academic performance, among many other benefits and services from trees. Preserving and expanding this driver of portland's economic and public health is a key goal of the city's urban forest plan. The forest in Portland, like in many cities, is also inequitably distributed, and that has consequences. People living on the east side of the Willamette river, communities of color, immigrants, and people living with lower incomes have significantly less tree canopy and are often disproportionately burdened by tree care, particularly removal costs. Compared to other portlanders. These disparities are also a driver of public health outcomes, which are exacerbated by climate change. The map of tree canopy on the left closely correlates with Multnomah county's heat vulnerability index. On the right, the darker the Green or shading on the left, the more tree canopy cover, the darker the red on the right, the higher the heat. Fewer trees means higher heat. We also face growing challenges in managing our urban forest, including increasing tree mortality resulting from climate change, extreme heat, and increasing pressures and demands on urban space. From 2014 to 2019, for the first time in years, we saw a slight decline in average canopy coverage across the city. This underscores the need to act with urgency. The Portland urban forest plan is our roadmap to address these challenges and grow and care for trees equitably. It replaces the 2004 urban forest management plan, which is over 20 years old and is informed by other city planning efforts, including the comprehensive plan, climate action plan and portland's tree planting strategy, called growing a more equitable forest. The new plan sets out a new community led vision for portland's trees. Portland's urban forest impacts everyone, so it's been important for us to engage with a variety of staff and portlanders who interact with and experience trees in different ways. In developing the plan, we hosted open houses, surveys, discussions, and focus groups to create and share information about the plan with the broader Portland community. We hosted engagement activities during every phase of the project. Historically, underserved and underrepresented communities were centered during many of our engagement activities, not just the focus groups. We provided interpretation services, participation incentives, and worked with community engagement liaisons to make sure we were providing opportunities for a variety of folks to engage with the project. Once the plan was created, we had a lengthy public comment period and did more outreach to let people know about the plan and the opportunity to contribute. The urban forestry commission is the city's recommending body for the urban forest plan. They they played a key role throughout the development and that continues today. We also convened a technical advisory committee composed of city bureaus, regional government partners and state agencies to ensure that the plan aligned with other plans and priorities. Here, we'd like to highlight a third advisory group, the community advisory committee. The cac, which was created specifically to inform the development of this plan. The cac includes a diverse group of portlanders who live in different parts of the city. Our 18 members includes a mix of historically underrepresented communities, as well as staff from organizations like wisdom of the elders, friends of trees, bird alliance of Oregon, immigrant and refugee community organization, and thrive east pdx. The cac met more than any other advisory group in the project, and this was to ensure the community's voice was centered throughout the process. They were instrumental in creating the vision and goals and providing guidance for the recommendations and actions in the implementation strategy. During our engagement, we made a concerted effort to hear from a broad range of portlanders and to hear from people representing a variety of perspectives. Specifically, we wanted to hear from stakeholders who have not frequently engaged with urban forestry aspects in the past, and who may have different perspectives that are informed by how they interact with trees, either professionally or in their daily lives. We heard from people of different ages and backgrounds, people who own and rent. People living in all four council districts. People involved in property development, the industrial sector and local business owners. We met with labor organizations, a retirement community, a local lions club chapter. We proactively sought out voices we weren't hearing from, and accepted every invitation we received to discuss the plan. We also engaged with several of the city's advisory commissions and committees like the Multnomah youth commission, Portland bureau of transportation's freight and pedestrian advisory committees, the planning commission, the development review advisory committee, and other city advisory groups to give them an opportunity to help shape the plan. Through our engagement, several themes emerged as top community priorities for us to address. We heard portlanders love trees, and trees are a big part of the city's identity. There are also deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change, and expect the city to respond with urgency. Portlanders also know the canopy is not evenly distributed, and they feel it, especially during the summer heat. They want the city to plant more trees and create more spaces for trees along streets and public spaces like plazas and parks, and in neighborhoods to provide shade and reduce summer temperatures. We also heard that people need help planting, caring for, and removing trees because it can get complicated and expensive. They want the city to handle maintenance for street trees and provide other support and incentives. Throughout the project, we heard a strong desire to protect and grow the tree canopy while also responding to portland's housing crisis. Many portlanders want to be involved in caring for the urban forest. People want education about how to plant and care for trees and how to navigate permitting systems. They want training so they can volunteer with their neighbors to plant and care for trees to. Finally, while this project isn't specifically about the tree code, we heard a broad range of feedback about that. Some people want the information about the code to be easier to access and to understand. Others want to see better preservation of trees that we have, or better planting outcomes during property development. And others want more flexibility on private property. All of these comments have been documented to inform future updates to the tree code. Taking all of this into consideration, we worked closely with the urban forestry commission, the technical advisory committee for the project and our community advisory committee to develop a new vision for the urban forest. That vision is the urban forest is healthy, biodiverse and climate resilient. City decisions are guided by racial and social equity. The city and community work collaboratively to share responsibility and care for the urban forest. Trees are integrated into urban design and planning to support healthy people and ecosystems. So how will we do that? The draft plan includes more than 60 action items to help us achieve this vision. While many of the recommendations in the plan will be implemented by urban forestry, many bureaus have key roles, including the Portland bureau of transportation, bureau of environmental services, Portland fire and rescue, bureau of planning and sustainability, and Portland permitting and development. Today, we'd like to highlight the most impactful recommendations, which are critical to achieving the plan's vision. Portland's tree canopy currently covers 30% of the city. Following an analysis of our potential tree canopy cover, a review of peer cities with similar characteristics and in some cases, higher canopy cover and greater population density. And considering community guidance, the plan sets a new goal of 45% average canopy cover. To get there, we need to plant the equivalent of 660,000 new trees, which is just about one tree for every portlander. The plan also establishes sub goals for tree canopy to ensure this growth equitably expands the canopy to low income and low canopy areas of the city. In order to plant that many trees, we need to incorporate and take advantage of best practices used in other cities. Be innovative to create new spaces for trees. We also need to create homegrown solutions to respond to and build resilience to the risks posed by a warming climate. Pictured here on this slide are new trees planted as part of the trees in the curb zone pilot project. This project was led by PBOT in close coordination and collaboration with Portland parks and recreation urban forestry, with funding from the bureau of environmental services. It removed underused on street parking spaces and built new street tree facilities. Over time, these trees will grow and lower temperatures in some of the hotter streets in the city, which previously had no viable space for street trees, will be cooler. Urban forestry is planting and maintaining about 35 trees as part of this pilot project. This project, trees in the curb zone demonstrates the potential solutions which can result from a unified approach to treating trees as part of portland's essential public works infrastructure. We heard that portlanders want to see more innovative work like this to regreen our streets and public spaces. One of the consistent calls we heard from participants was for the city of Portland to take over responsibility for maintaining street trees, as many of portland's peer cities already do. Fortunately, the Portland clean energy fund has already provided an initial five year allocation to support this work, and development is underway. A pilot project is planned for next year. Street tree maintenance is a silver bullet for eliminating canopy inequities, since the cost of maintenance is the number one reason portlanders say they don't plant a tree, even if that tree is offered for free. Throughout the project, portlanders also expressed a strong interest in being involved in tree care, preservation, and expansion of the urban forest. To support this work, we provide tree education and volunteer opportunities like tree planting at parks and schools and our neighborhood tree stewards program. We'll expand current efforts to collaborate with local tree care businesses, nonprofits, and community based organizations through technical assistance and contracting to plant and maintain trees and support urban forest education and outreach. These efforts will be supported by actions to build and strengthen relationships with culturally specific and community based organizations, and improve communication and trust with portlanders. Finally, we heard that updating the tree code to make it easier to understand and follow and to ensure its policies support the community vision, are important to people. They saw that vision as having a vast, healthy and equitably distributed urban forest. While trees have been regulated in Portland for over a half a century, the current tree code has only been in use for ten years, and we look forward to partnering with city council and the community to shape that ongoing work of improvement. That concludes our presentation, and we would be happy to hear your feedback and answer questions.
88 Wonderful. Thank you so much for that informative presentation. So first, we'll move into more technical questions. If my colleagues have any questions for the folks that are up here right now. And then we're going to move into public testimony. And after that we'll have our more robust committee discussion. So councilor Avalos, I see you have your hand up and then councilor Novick.
89 Thank you. Let's see. Thank you for your presentation. Very excited to see the work that you all are doing to update the code and increase accessibility across the district. So across the city. So I want to know how does this plan prioritize increasing the canopy in east Portland and other areas with historically low coverage? Do we have data on how the new canopy goal breaks down by neighborhood or by district?
90 Thank you very much for that question, councilor. And belinda, our project manager, will start with giving you that information.
91 Yeah. Excuse me.
92 So our canopy goals, we have the citywide goal. Which city forester cairo mentioned a 45%. But to support that goal, to ensure that we're prioritizing areas with low canopy, we actually have sub area goals that are broken down by neighborhood. So individual neighborhoods, there's a minimum we set to ensure that there's sort of a basic level of canopy across all of our neighborhoods, and then we also used the city's pattern areas, which are geographic breakdown of the city developed by the bureau of planning and sustainability as part of our comprehensive plan. And within that, east Portland actually is its own pattern area. And so we set different goals for each of those areas to ensure that as we're working towards that citywide goal, we're prioritizing the areas with lowest canopy first.
93 And if I may add to that, currently and for some time now, and it would continue and increase through this plan, our city planning efforts have focused on low canopy and low income parts of the city. Most of those are. I'm sure it is not a surprise to any of you in east Portland. There are some in other areas like downtown in the core. In addition, what we heard really clearly from folks was caring for trees can be a barrier burden and a barrier financially. And so we're really fortunate to have PCEF as a partner. As I mentioned previously, there are there's a project starting now which will be, we hope, very impactful. And folks have wanted to have in a long time funded by PCEF. And that is transitioning responsibility for street tree maintenance from the adjacent property owner over to the city. And we'll have a pilot starting on that next year. The other of the two funding projects from PCEF that that I'll mention is one we call private property tree care support. And that also is going to be piloted within the next two years. And that is financial support for care of trees that are located on private property. And the goal here really is to help portlanders have the trees they need and not feel like they can't have them because it costs too much money. Then another element the slide 17. Sorry, technical. The slide that showed the trees in the curb zone project that was specifically situated in a low income, low canopy, high heat part of the city. And clearly street uses and designs will impact where something like that might work. But there are a lot of opportunities in east Portland to get innovated, innovative about how our land is used, and working with the other infrastructure bureaus to find opportunities like that to continue. And that will be a focus area.
94 Thank you. I am particularly interested in the program to help folks managing their trees on their property, and would love to partner on how we get the word out about the availability availability of those programs. I'm curious, how will the data such as like canopy gains or tree health be collected and validated over time?
95 Thank you for that question. We have an ongoing program to monitor the city's canopy, and it consists of a few elements. We have an inventory project. You might see people right around city hall these days in orange vests going out into the street, and they're all over the city, literally checking on street trees and collecting data. Where are they? Where are they not general information about their condition? We also do that in parks, and that's all online you can it's kind of fun. You can look up the trees in your neighborhood and see what species they are. And oh, that's a new one. Another part is we have a partnership with the united states forest service. It's called the urban canopy inventory and assessment. It is an ongoing citywide data collection to tell us what the overall canopy composition is. It consists of 200 pilot or I'm sorry, a sample plots across the city in all different types of land use situations. So we have that information as well. That for example, can tell us we know there are approximately 95,000 ash trees in the city, which has good management implications. Last but not least, we use lidar data that's generated by the county to update and analyze and update the average canopy cover across the whole city on a regular basis. That's how we know in our last measurement, it was declining slightly. All of those will continue as we go forward.
96 Thank you. And my last question is multiple bureaus are listed as implementation leads for all of this. And I'm curious what kind of cross bureau governance structure will ensure that there's clear roles. We're avoiding the silos, and we're facilitating some shared accountability for the maintenance of our trees.
97 Yeah, that's a great question. I think the new form of government that is really focused on the city speaking as one voice and working together is helpful in this regard. Also, as you all know, Portland parks and recreation was recently realigned into the public works service area with dca donna paul, so that's helpful as well. And prior to that, for years now, we all bureaus have worked closely to try to meet all of our responsibilities and all the city goals as best we can in all situations. I think there's always room for improvement in that, and if council has any advice on that, we'd be happy to hear it.
98 Thank you. That's all for now.
99 Appreciate it.
100 Thank you. Councilor Novick.
101 One question I had is when you look at the decline in tree canopy in recent years, do you have estimates as to what extent that's due to tree removal on private land, tree removal and development, trees lost to storms and other severe weather events, trees lost to die off because of pests, climate impacts, etc.
102 Yeah. So we as part of this project, we have been looking into that. It's the urban forest dynamics are very complicated, so it's difficult to determine the exact sort of magnitude of each of those factors you mentioned. But in looking at where we've seen canopy decline and looking at all of our permit data and everything, it's pretty clear to us that it's a combination of all of those factors. So, for example, we've seen some of the largest declines in our natural areas, which is a good indicator that it's really climate change. That's playing a huge role in some of this, since those areas are pretty heavily protected. But we also know that during the period when we've seen the most decline there has has been a lot of development in Portland. So that's clearly playing a role. Yeah. So it's a combination of factors. There's also, you know, individual choices of tree removal are also having an impact. Is the fact that we've seen a decline in recent years since the adoption of the tree code and other indication that it's mostly climate and other factors, rather than like theoretically, your city has seen a reduction of people removing trees in their own private property since the adoption of the tree code, but we've had an increase in canopy decline, which sort of seems to suggest that people removing trees on private property isn't a major factor. I would think.
103 The tree code does still allow for quite a lot of removals. But yes, and also the fact that many other cities across our region and across the country have also seen a decline during the same time. It's another suggestion that their sort of bigger factors at play than just our individual tree code.
104 I've got another old I've got an oldie but a goodie question, which I probably asked before in the last six months. I don't remember the answer. I remember ten years ago hearing complaints that they tell me that I can't remove the street tree, but the street tree is destroying the sidewalk and they tell me I have to fix the sidewalk. What are the current rules that relate to that? That, I mean, is it can people always say I can, or people always told you can remove a tree if it's going to damage the sidewalk or you don't have to repair the sidewalk. It was caused by a tree. What's the what are the rules on that?
105 Yeah. Great question. To summarize, the rules are if it is something that cannot be mitigated, like the tree is going to continue to break a sidewalk, there's no way to have a sidewalk and that tree in that space, then the tree is permitted for removal. The city's code does ask us to try to work together as the city and retain trees where where we can. That's important, because a mature tree is really giving us all of the things we need, as opposed to taking a tree out and starting over. Sometimes we lose that space as well. But my version, my interpretation in general language of the code is it tries to strike the balance between we need sidewalks and we need trees. And at some point, depending on the conflict, sometimes that tree needs to be removed.
106 Is there some sort of like cap on the amount of costs that the homeowner has to bear in order to maintain both the tree and the sidewalk? Like, you know, we're not going to force you to keep on trying to maintain the tree if that's going to cost you $1,000 to avoid destroying the sidewalk.
107 Yes, that is part of the consideration criteria in the tree code.
108 But is there is there like a dollar cap? I mean.
109 There isn't a specified dollar amount. It's about the burden that's placed on it, and it includes the assessment of each situation because there are very different and the species involved, like what it would take with that species. There's also councilor Novick. I should have mentioned this frequently. There's opportunity to remove roots from the trees. That solves the problem. And that's an early go to in our process. So to get back to your original question, there's no dollar amount in the code, but cost does play a role.
110 Okay. One of the goals that I saw in the draft plan is to increase canopy in industrial areas. What's the argument for that? It would seem actually that there's inherent conflicts and often between industrial uses and trees. Is that just because the canopy is low in those areas, or are there other factors saying that that should be a priority?
111 Yeah, I guess I want to clarify. We don't have goals specific to land use, so I'm not familiar with specific goal for increasing canopy in industrial areas. But we do have a goal for sort of our areas along the river, which includes both natural areas and industrial areas. So I guess I'd want to follow up with clarity to find out exactly what you're talking about. I can get the right.
112 I could have swore that I saw a specific sentence somewhere saying that one of the one of the I don't know if it's like a specific percentage goal, but one of the there was a desire to increase canopy in industrial areas. But I'll try to find that.
113 Yeah, but I will say we did hear from community, a lot of interest in seeing expansion in canopy in those areas, which can happen in a variety of ways, and certainly a lot of concern for increasing canopy and shade over our rivers to protect our water quality and habitat.
114 In terms of reliance on PCEF funding. I mean, as we heard earlier, there's we're in the midst of one PCEF cip period, and there will be another one starting in a couple of years. What are your plans for funding the activities currently funded by PCEF after this PCEF funding period expires? And what is the what is the likely cost of things like the city taking over maintenance of street trees overall, not just in a pilot, but period. It would be interesting to know what the urban forestry kind of expects from PCEF in terms of investments over the next five years.
115 Thanks for that question. And with together with PCEF, the expectation is that this is a five year increment. That is's e climate investment plan, but the intention is for that to continue after the five years. The pilot is an important step for us to really try things out and learn so we can create a the best large citywide scale program that we can. So that's that's the intention five years. But then it would continue after that.
116 And okay, so can you give me an estimate of how much annual PCEF investment do you expect. You know, five years from now and ten years from now?
117 Yes. I don't have that information at my fingertips right now, but we can provide that to you. Back in 2019, we did a project with a consultant group. It's called managing street trees as a Green infrastructure that provided that specific information. Councilor. Okay. And we recently did an update with them in terms of costs.
118 I recently had a conversation with a neighbor who was has a tree that they think is an ornamental pear where the branches fall off, fall off all the time, and that they were to be they were removing some of the branches in anticipation of that. And I was wondering, is there like a list of trees that we consider, you know, should possibly be removed from, from the street or a list of trees for which there's like blanket permit to do periodic pruning, because we recognize that it's always going to be necessary. How can people deal with problem trees that are always shedding branches?
119 Thank you for that question. A couple a couple answers to that. The bureau of transportation has a blanket permit. It's called a programmatic permit to do tree pruning. That's on street trees that is associated with their projects. So those aren't held up. Residents currently under the current city regulations are required to get permits to maintain street trees. That is one of the things that will be changing thanks to pcf funding that you heard about as one of the desires we've we've learned from people during the creation of this plan. That's the street tree maintenance program, so that will change. As for trees shedding branches, some do proactive maintenance. Some species are more inclined than others. Proactive maintenance helps with that. Here we are back at street tree maintenance, being something people really want the city to take over. So that's not their their concern. And we each year, each three years put out an updated list of approved street tree species. That list is to help folks choose what species they can plant. It's according to the space. Clearly, some trees are too big for some spaces, and that's addressed. Those types of maintenance concerns are addressed in those plans in terms of removing trees, trees that are dead, dying and dangerous are removed, are permitted for removal, and that is our top priority to make sure that public safety is ensured.
120 But until the city takes over, street tree maintenance everywhere. Yeah. Is it would a tree where branches periodically drop? But it's, you know, maybe aren't likely to kill anybody? Would that be considered dangerous?
121 It's a case by case basis. Councilor to see what the condition of that tree is. Oftentimes, if branches are shedding from trees, it's because of other factors. That is a stress indicator on trees that there's damage or the tree is declining. In those cases, if it's a dying tree or it's dangerous because that keeps happening, then it would be permitted for removal.
122 But but aren't there entire types of trees that just inherently, you know, are unstable and you can expect branches to fall regularly?
123 There are species that we do not include on the approved street tree list for that reason.
124 But if it's not approved in the list, does that mean. But but it exists. Does that mean that it can be removed?
125 Could you say that again?
126 It might. What if there's a tree that is not on the current list of approved street trees, but it does exist. It's a street tree. Does that mean that it could automatically be removed, or does that.
127 I understand what you're asking. Yes. The removal is based on whether the tree is dead, dying or dangerous. If it is not those things and they are, they are different for different tree situations each time because they're living things. Then the goal is to keep the tree because we are trying to retain and increase canopy in the city. So there's no I think I hear what you're saying, there's nothing that says, go, take, go, take out all the payers. If there is a pest or pathogen, we move to that, spreading rapidly and killing trees. We move to a slightly different pattern, but that doesn't apply to pears or many other species right now.
128 Okay. I mean, I think that I'd just like to suggest that maybe there could be some thought to having particular rules for types of trees that, you know, really shouldn't be street trees to sort of ease up the permit process or allow for sort of ongoing permits for people to do maintenance work on trees, which we've already acknowledged shouldn't be street trees to begin with.
129 Thanks.
130 Thank you, thank you.
131 Let's. Okay. Sorry. This portion is for technical questions. So, councilor Ryan, if you have a technical question and then I want to make sure we have time for public testimony. People will get three minutes each. And I think we have about nine people signed up as of this morning. And then we'll move into more broad committee discussion. So, councilor Ryan.
132 Yes.
133 First of all, thank you all for being here. I always thought that urban forestry and public works made sense. So this is a good day to have all of you paired together. I think that my one, I had my hand up and I put it down. I put it back up because I'm trying to be a technical question, and this is more of a curious clarification. It's about comparing the tree canopy with the heat index that slide. If you wanted to put it up, that's your choice. It might be helpful because I'm looking at the outer part of southeast that has a lot of Green in the canopy, and yet the heat index is pretty large. So I don't want to assume that I know why that is. And I assume I'll say that I. My assumption is that when you have a big mass Green area like forest park that multiplies around the area and provides a lot of cooling, whereas in an area where you just do a highly intensified Green area, maybe it doesn't have that same effect. In other words, when you said there's a direct correlation, there really isn't a direct correlation. When I look at this map, when I compare the dark Green in outer southeast, in the orange to red in the same area. So my curious brain wants to know why.
134 Yes, what you said is correct. Where there is a larger mass of Green, the lower temperatures spread beyond that. That said, it's fairly localized. You can feel this when you go out in the street on a hot day. You stand under the tree and then you step out from under it. That can be as much as a 15 degree difference, a life and death difference. Councilor when I look at this map, I think you're looking down towards happy valley. Is that what you're referring to?
135 I think it's that. What's the name of that park there?
136 Are you looking at the lower?
137 Don't you kind of know that area really well? Councilor Novick this area here, the outer part of southeast. Would start Green. I is that powell?
138 So the outer dark Green. Yeah powell butte is out there.
139 Yeah.
140 I don't have a markers I'm. Just guessing I wanted you to know that.
141 Yeah I guess so. Just to clarify. So you're asking how come we're seeing dark Green in powell near powell butte in that lower southeast portion of the city. And then also, I'll just ask you to repeat the question rather than trying to.
142 So when you look at these two maps and you all state, you stated that there's a direct correlation between the canopy and the heat index. And I follow it really clearly on the west side and outer southeast. There's some good canopy in one area and the lower southeast. And yet the heat index still is rather high. And I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that.
143 Yeah.
144 Because when we're investing like we should in more tree canopy, you expect to see I was expecting to see a different shade there. Pun intended. Based on the tree canopy right here.
145 Okay.
146 Yeah. So that is a great observation and true. So the map on the left hand side showing canopy is at a much more sort of nuanced scale. So there's more variation in shade being shown there than the heat vulnerability index map where the data is aggregated by census tract, which is a larger geographic space essentially than the map on the left. The other thing is that the heat vulnerability vulnerability index map incorporates more than just heat. It also includes population characteristics. So like demographics, socioeconomics, it's not just showing heat.
147 I think that's the missing piece of information, is that I also was wondering if it had to do with evergreen trees or deciduous trees. So my little brain is thinking a lot about what why this is. And I'm glad you're allowing me to be curious and ask this question, and I'm satisfied with some of the answer, but I think we need to really look into that as we make investments, because the whole goal would be to increase the canopy and then produce a better heat index over here. So let's keep learning from that.
148 Yeah, thanks.
149 Wonderful. Thank you so much for taking time to answer some of our technical questions. Right now, we're going to move into public testimony and then hoping you can stay in the room for any further committee discussion that comes up. Rebecca, how many people are signed up to testify right now?
150 Nine.
151 You can start calling them up. Folks will have three minutes to testify, and then we will go back to a full committee session.
152 Bruce nelson.
153 Good morning, councilors, I appreciate your engagement with this topic. My name is bruce nelson. I live in district two. I've been a member of the urban forestry commission for six years. We are now today in a climate emergency, and we will be for the rest of my life. And I assume for those of you who are young, much younger than me, for your entire lives, the new Portland urban forest management plan will provide critical direction for the actions that urban forestry will be taking for the next 10 to 20 years. You will hear them constantly in meetings and when their staff is talking. We are directed by our urban forest management plan, so it's an important document. It's important today and it's going to be important for the rest of your lives, certainly for all of my life. But that'll be short. What do we want our urban forest to look like ten years from now? 20 years from now? The neighborhood I live in, the street I live in, the five block stretch has doubled its population in the last seven years. And I expect, as people like me move out our properties, which are currently single family residents, will have eight to 10 to 20 different residences on it. That's population growth. What will our trees be like in that time frame? Things I would like to see in the new urban forest management plan, and I read the draft that was presented in, I think, March. I haven't seen the updated one, so I'm not sure this is all there, but we certainly need courageous action in this new urban forest management plan, and we need a lot more of it than what we're currently getting. The plan must call for very strong community engagement in the decision making of what is planted and where it is planted. By community engagement, I mean, they're out there talking. They're out there planting. We must see all sidewalk damage that is caused by trees that needs to be paid for by the city. I'm not sure how, but that's part of the dilemma that people face today. We need to have city financial responsibility for all of the street trees. Pcef is allowing that possibility. Our trees are important in dealing with the climate changes for the next 20. Well for our foreseeable future. Thank you for your work on this.
154 Tanya hartnett.
155 Good morning. Co-chair, Morillo and co-chair, Novick and committee members, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Portland urban forest plan and the goals to increase the city's tree canopy, particularly along the waterfront. I'm tanya hartnett, executive director of the working waterfront coalition. We represent industrial businesses committed to the both the economic vitality and environmental health of the Portland harbor. As we understand it, the urban forest plan will shape the future planning efforts. It states that the tree canopy for industrial land along the Willamette needs to increase from 13% to 20%. I was told earlier this week that this does not change title 11, as it will be covered in the eoa. However, as was presented today, amendments for title 11 are a part of this plan. Currently, title 11 provides reasonable exemptions for trees and heavy industrial zones and approach we support. It reflects the complexity of adding trees to dense, high activity industrial sites. As you consider this plan, I want to highlight the real world challenges of expanding tree canopy in these areas. While the intent is admirable, the practical impacts on operations, safety and regulatory compliance must be fully acknowledged. These sites are high functioning logistics hubs. Every square foot is used to move cargo stage equipment, build things and operate cranes and trucks. Adding trees, even with the best intentions, directly competes with core industrial functions. There are also serious safety issues. Trees can block light lines, drop limbs, damaged pavement, and even pose fire risks. They may attract wildlife, creating interference with sensitive equipment and increasing liability, particularly in areas handling hazardous materials. Regulatory constraints also come into play. Many of these sites fall under federal maritime security protocols. The maritime transportation security act and coast guard regulations discourage or prohibit landscaping that could obstruct surveillance, hide perimeter breaches, or attract animals. Additionally, many harbor properties are under long term EPA or deq oversight. Planting trees would could disturb capped contamination zones or conflict with monitoring infrastructure, rather than a one size fits all canopy mandate. We urge a more flexible, site sensitive approach. Some businesses may be able to incorporate trees, others may contribute through off site canopy programs or invest in Green infrastructure like bioswales or vegetated stormwater systems. These strategies offer meaningful environmental benefits without compromising industrial operations. We support the city's climate and livability goals. Both those goals must be implemented in ways that reflect the operational realities, safety needs, and regulatory limits of a working harbor. Thank you for your time.
156 Carol pinegar. Carol's online.
157 Good morning. Thanks for pronouncing my name correctly. Very few people can do that. My name is carol pinegar and I live in cully, where I'm fortunate to have two old but mighty street trees shading my south facing house. The world's changed dramatically since the last urban forest plan was drafted 21 years ago, and I look forward to reading the new draft of the plan. As soon as portlanders like me are given the opportunity to read it. Our tree canopy promotes climate resilience, cooling our homes, our sidewalks and streets on hot summer days. And some of these days, as you know, have been so hot they've killed portlanders. Even though studies show that living near trees boosts human health and saves lives, portland's tree canopy is shrinking and it needs protecting and expanding. It's good that the draft ufc includes quote design and creates new space for trees. Close quote. Those designs need to strike a balance between space for trees and space now given to the built environment, such as streets, sidewalks and housing. No more giving trees short shrift. Let's care for them as if they were our partners in climate resilience. Because they are. It's great that one of the plan's actions is reducing the cost of tree care for property owners. Many community members have asked for help with the cost of this for a long time. I'm lucky to be able to afford the expense of an arborist, but most people can't. The cost of maintaining trees and protecting trees in our community should be a community expense. Please note that the language about climate in the first draft of the uf, c was not clear enough or strong enough, written or strongly enough written, and the revised draft needs to be explicit about the role of trees when it comes to climate. Trees mitigate against climate change and they also help us adapt to it. It's good to be clear about how maintaining tree canopy on public and private property is one of the primary ways that portlanders will achieve our climate resilience goals. The plan's metrics and performance tracking need to be more robust in order to increase accountability. And lastly, the plan needs to break away from the past by using a more urgent tone that reflects the severity of the climate crisis. Because it's happening now, we all know that the stakes are high to ensure that Portland remains livable into the future. As bruce has said, you know, I won't be around. Bruce and I are around the same age, but you all will be, and so will our grands and great grants. We need to prepare for climate resilience by by fortifying our urban forest now. Thanks for your time.
158 Barbara wharton. Noel studer. Spivak.
159 Thank you for your time today. Councilors. My name is noel spivak. I live in the cully neighborhood, and I co-chair the shade equity coalition. We formed the coalition after the deadly heat dome of 2021, when so many of our neighbors perished. We just came together in common cause to try to shade our streets, our transportation corridors, the places where we all live. It's not enough to cluster trees and parks like Salem and eugene, and most all the municipalities in the great lakes regions. We hope that Portland will one day take the maintenance burden off of adjacent property owners, and assume responsibility for maintaining the public trees in the public right of way with public dollars. We don't know how to fund this yet. Pcef dollars will get us part way there temporarily, but we look forward to working with you for a long into the future to find permanent funding for care of our trees. On a personal note, we recently got a puppy and so we are learning all things about dogs. We're on a steep learning curve, and one of the things our vet told us is to find out if it's safe to walk your dog. You take the top of your hand, the back of your hand, and you place it on the pavement. If it burns, then it's too hot for the dog to walk. And I would submit that if it burns for a dog's paws, it's not a healthy for humans either. So this is one of the reasons why I feel like we really need to invest in trees to get people out of their cars, their fossil fuel polluting vehicles and really enjoy active transportation. That's how we have a healthy community. This plan has everything to do with helping us get there. You know, in the past, we've had challenges with bureaus working together, and we're hoping that we know that bureaus were involved in helping to draft this. The community was very involved, and so we hope that this will help with the new government structure to get everybody on the same page. When you hear urban forest plan, I hope you'll think strategic cooling plan, because we do not have a strategic cooling plan in Portland right now. This is the closest thing that we have. And so really this is a whole lot about human health and well-being. And so that's kind of the key information I have for you. Recently 350 pdx held a pedal palooza event. There were 70 people out on bikes biking from Lents to Laurelhurst. We went by the pilot project that's in southeast Portland, and we have some heat photographs, some thermal imaging. So you can see the difference that trees make. You can see how much heat is held in the in the pavement. Even at 6:30 p.m. It's 115 degrees on that pavement. So and that's shaded. So that's the heat. That's reradiating at night and keeping our neighborhoods hotter than they should be. So that's all I've got for now. I really appreciate your time. We support this plan and look forward to seeing the edits. Thank you.
160 Albert kaufman, albert's online.
161 Good morning.
162 Thanks for taking my testimony. I'm albert kaufman. I live in southeast Portland. Good morning, councilors. And I just wanted to share a few thoughts. I'm very much in favor of this plan. I really look forward to the day coming again. When Portland can be look to as a place that is free, friendly, and we catch up with some of the places in the rest of the country that have taken the lead on planting trees and caring for trees and keeping our canopy intact and growing. Since I started paying attention to trees in about 1995, our canopy has, you know, gone through rises and falls. I got involved in really actively with friends of trees over the years, planting trees all around town and encouraging city council members to come out and plant with the community to see how that unfolds. And in that, in the last couple of years, unfortunately, the city has stopped working with friends of trees as much as they used to. I'd really like to see that coming on board a lot more strongly than it's about to, but I'll take what's about to come. But I think of this as kind of an education or a chance for city council members to sort of catch up on what's going on with tree trees and, you know, as well as other issues, you know, all of you are pretty new to city council, and you're getting an education in all sorts of topics. And now it's time to learn about trees and the people who care about them. Noel, who just spoke before me, is really an amazing resource. I hope that you do tap into the folks who are on the shade equity coalition. In fact, I'm and I'm part of that as well. I would be glad, along with other members, to meet with you in a in a session where we actually talk through some of these issues more directly, rather than just telling you what we think for three minutes. There are some amazing people who are involved in the shade equity coalition, as well as the group that I'm part of called we keep trees standing. We have 850 members, and I'm sure many of them are so educated about tree issues, they'll make your head spin. I'm mostly good at wrangling people and getting people to show up to testify and getting myself to testify, but there are people who know trees upside down and inside out, and they would be glad to answer any questions you have. And I'll just finish with one thought is that in recent I think it was last year, maybe two years ago, ODOT ended up coming along cutting down 175 mature doug fir along powell so that they could widen the road. And now that they're not actually widening the road or not, they're not doing it today. And so we lost shade for the foreseeable future in that area. One thing we can do is keep the trees standing that we have.
163 Micah maskell.
164 Good morning. Chair Morillo and chair Novick and council members. My name is mike maskell, and with the bird alliance of Oregon. And yeah, we have long focused on tree advocacy. For the 40 plus years, we've focused on urban conservation as it provides trees and their canopy provide the best tool to develop habitats both for birds, wildlife and people within our built landscape. And that's within our parks, within our natural areas, within our street right of ways and within our industrial districts and businesses. And we feel that all of our land uses should find space for trees, including heavy industrial. And we'll be working through the amendment process this fall and into next year to help do that. So this update, it's much needed to really evolve and reinvigorate our community wide efforts to grow and maintain our tree canopy. It's ambitious as it should be, and the subarea goals are bring a real great focus both on meeting equity and geographic goals of this plan. And this plan was kneecapped a couple of months ago by the budget amendments that councilor Zimmerman was able to pass across council. And I want to first thank councilor Avalos and councilor Morillo for voting against both of those and councilor Novick for voting against one of them. We need to be real clear eyed about the impacts of decisions like that, and we're going to learn that those are going to kneecap some of our efforts that we've heard today from urban forestry, whether that's shifting street tree maintenance to the public sector or shifting or planting trees through the equitable tree canopy initiative that PCEF is leading. And yeah, I think there are a lot of really positive movements underway right now that really bring the city different city bureaus together, along with community, to expand upon urban, our urban canopy. And they can be emboldened by this plan. And we need to do that. And yeah, I think we've come a long way over the last couple of years to build that collaboration, and we're seeing it bear fruit, whether that's trees in the curb zone that brought PBOT and urban forestry together, whether it's the tree canopy initiative that's really bringing urban forestry into strong collaboration with community groups, I'm going to touch on a couple of things that were really appreciated. Your discussion today and councilor Novick you noted the title 11 still, that we're still seeing a reduction in tree canopy. And I think one of those key things is that title 11 allows for almost any tree to be removed at the at any price. And so we need to be clear about that and, and study that. And I think urban forestry has done a good job on that with industrial areas in north Portland. North Portland I think it intersects both with vulnerable communities and vulnerable environmental resources. And that's why we need to ensure that they are doing their part in building out our tree canopy. And then lastly, the data is so important both for what we are embarking on with tree canopy initiative, especially in the community engagement and availing community of all of the resources that are now coming online to pay for private maintenance and that folks can really benefit from. And so I'm really excited about that aspect.
165 Thank you.
166 Darlene sherman, darlene's online.
167 Hello. My name is darlene sherman. I live in district three and I'm a. Ecologist and habitat restoration, mostly in southern california, but also as a volunteer in Portland. I have reviewed the draft urban forest plan, and I support the plan. While I would like to see more urgency and to really look at ways that we can make the plan more effective by prioritizing the preservation of existing trees. Trees provide shade, reduce the heat island effect wildlife habitat, mitigating climate by carbon storage. But when we plant young trees, it takes a long time before they can really provide those services. So the best we can do is to preserve, maximize preservation of existing trees, especially large trees, within the city. When trees must be removed for safety or biological reasons, we should consider having a mitigation bank system within Portland so that funds, rather than just planting young trees and replacing to compensate for tree that is removed, that the owners can pay into a fund and we can the city, maybe within parks and rec, can purchase land or do conservation easements to protect existing stands of large trees that may be at risk of development. I think that's something that we could really consider. The other aspect that I think would really strengthen the plan would be to really look at prioritizing the planting of medium and large structure trees. I know it's very difficult in street trees to do that, but we should really look at mechanisms. And one of those might be the using some of the techniques for the trees in the curb zone by expanding the planting area with a bulb into the street, so that we can actually have trees that at maturity can really provide those services and shade the area. The other that I think the city is already doing some of is what's called structural soils. So improving what's underneath the ground to allow for larger street trees and really emphasize in our natural areas and our parks of planting large structure trees that will provide the most services at maturity. So thank you very much. Really, really appreciate the updating of the urban forest plan. Thanks.
168 Kazimierza tidwell. Casimira. That concludes testimony.
169 Thank you so much, rebecca, and thank you so much to everyone who came to testify on the urban forest plan today. I just wanted to remind folks that there are still amendments that can be made to the urban forest plan. So this is not the last time that you will have your voice heard on this. This is also only the first opportunity for public comment. There will be another opportunity when the final draft returns to committee. And again, that's going to come to us around mid September. And that will become a resolution that will go to full council for deliberation and a vote. So I hope that you will stay engaged with us over the next two months and make sure that we get all of your feedback incorporated. And if I could invite back some of the city staff that were here earlier presenting as we move into our council discussion, if folks have any more questions or comments that they'd like to make, I want to make sure that we have some experts here from the city as well to answer them. And I put myself on stack because I didn't speak last time, but I had the pleasure of going on a walk with trees for life in outer southeast Portland in my district to go over our tree canopy just last week. And something that really stood out to me was the importance of the curb zone and how much space we have to plant these trees, and how we can plant small trees as much as we want. But the importance of having those older, bigger trees that are actually providing, providing shade. And I know someone who goes out in the summers when it gets really hot to make sure that our unhoused neighbors actually have water and gatorade and stuff, you can feel the material difference immediately when you're in a neighborhood that doesn't have those old growth trees, and how, frankly, nauseating it is to walk in the heat like that. So really appreciate their work. My office personally has gotten numerous documents from advocates, numerous 20 page, 40 page documents with information on the urban forest plan and feedback that they have on our plan. And I know that our urban forestry team may have received a letter from 350 pdx and other groups back in April of 2024, it looks like, with some recommendations, which I've printed out here for my colleagues as well, in case anyone wants to read them. I'm curious how that feedback was integrated into the plan. If there's a way for us as a council to see what community feedback was received and then how that was integrated into the plan, I know someone who did a lot of policy work before on anti-hunger stuff, that there are times where you gather a lot of community feedback, but it's not always clear how much of that was taken into account and what has materially changed the policy. So that's something that I'm curious about and that stood out to me, if you want to speak to that at all.
170 Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that question. Yes, we did receive letters from multiple community groups, have been reviewing those, along with thousands of comments we received through in-person open house, emailed comments, phone calls, various presentations. We've documented all of those comments and have been incorporating that feedback into the revised plan. We do have a spreadsheet that documents all of this, so that could be made available if you're interested to see, or we can provide a summary, but generally speaking, we have been working. We have had some individual meetings with certain folks as well, including trees for life of Oregon, to talk more in depth. And on the letter we received to integrate their comments into the plan.
171 I would love to see a copy of that spreadsheet, or I don't know if we can make it as one of the exhibits to the urban forest plan when we post it publicly on the website. I think just for transparency sake, it'd be really interesting for the public to get to see which groups came up with which ideas and why, and I think that would be helpful for me as someone voting on this and making those decisions, because we do have so many incredible experts in the community who are bringing us boatloads of information, sometimes more than I can track or any one person can track. And I want to make sure that's integrated. So I would say speaking to the community who might be watching this, that again, mid-september is when this is going to be coming back and amendments can still be made. So if you sent a letter back in April of 2024 or any other information, I would bump that back up to the urban forestry team and make sure that they're seeing that and that we are tracking those changes in real time. And I see we have a bunch of other hands up. So I will pass it off to councilor Avalos and then councilor Ryan.
172 Thank you. Chair Morillo I had a random question. You know, we were talking earlier about the program to help folks on their private property to manage tree health. I guess I'm curious, does the city offer resources to help people monitor the tree health of their trees on their private property? I think I was thinking about this as I was reflecting on in my hoa community. We've got a bunch of trees and we've all been talking about how we're concerned. We've, you know, we had landscapers that were like, there's something going on with the trees. We might want to check on the health, you know, and they're they're all like right next to our houses. So I guess I'm just wondering if those there are resources for folks who might need help assessing the health of their trees that are on their private properties.
173 Yeah. Thank you for that question, counselor. Great question. For a time. Hasn't been around for probably six years. We used to have something we called health inspections that were done for free by our technical staff. Due to staffing levels and budget, we stopped doing those back in those days. So at present, aside from the new PCEF funded program that we're developing, there really aren't city offered programs for that that I'm aware of. There are there's some nuance to that. When folks get a yard tree from our free yard tree program, we do monitor them while they're establishing and give information and help to the property owner. That's for the first three years. That's important to get the tree established, but after that, there isn't that service anymore. Another avenue is we work closely and want to work more closely with the commercial companies and nonprofits in town that do tree work. We have a training program with them called local tree care providers, and they can be a really great resource for folks to come have them come to the property and assess their trees. Sometimes they do that at no cost, unless there's actual work that needs to be done that they would then provide an estimate for.
174 Thank you.
175 Councilor Ryan.
176 Yes.
177 Thank you chair. First of all, thanks for the testimony. It was rather refreshing. It's quite relatable, I think, to any portlander, if you're listening in, that's not always the case. And we have testimony on our issues, especially the economic burden that we place on portlanders on a whole with their their street trees in the public right of way. And I know that that's been something we've been talking about for a few years. And I do think the PCEF investment was one of the more popular ones, at least in the last council. And from most of the testimony. And again, I see the synergy now that being in the same unit will be helpful, being in the same division and public works. I also like the name strategic cooling plan. That was you.
178 Thank you. That's a good name.
179 One thing that that I didn't hear about when you talked about partners, and it's probably because of my own experience, is pge seems to, whether I like it or not. Like, I don't really like the way they prune, but they just do it to me because it's below wires. And so pge has a big impact. Is that one of the partners, therefore, that you didn't mention, but you are working with closely?
180 Yes it is. Someone asked before if we have blanket permits. So pge and the other utility, pacific corps in town have programmatic. We call them permits because they do daily tree work. It is an it is a. A relationship that has to respect the state laws and federal laws around utility lines. And of course, we all want electric transmission to continue and also apply the city's tree regulations. So we work with them regularly on that.
181 Okay.
182 Thank you. I just wanted to know that that was actually happening, since I think many people can relate to that. And I wanted to know that you are all in deep dialog as you move forward with this title. I have an update. I know that we just we want to daylight the title 11 that's moving, that's moving into p and d, and that's a big change. And it's also where you also interface with many of the partners internally that you work with, and from being involved in the permitting early days of permit reform, I knew it was a necessary tension. So I just want to hear how that's impacting, affecting the process in your planning going forward.
183 Thanks for that question. This is a relatively new development, as you all know. So at this point we're focused really on the staff impacts, focused on layoffs and removing positions and also arranging the budget correctly between the two bureaus to implement that amendment. In addition, we've started to identify the impact areas, what services will be impacted and how that work is in its early stages. There are many of those, and we'll be working diligently with Portland permitting and development to flesh those out and determine how we can continue services as best we can.
184 I think between now and when we bring this back, I want to figure out who would be the right meeting. But I think it's more than just your very genuinely represent this work really well. But there's so many other bureaus that you interface with. And when I was listening to the testimony from one of our partners at working waterfront, it sounds like you can get different reads on how to move forward from different bureaus. Still, that's a story of working with the city of Portland, and I think we have an opportunity here to change that narrative. And I, I know there's going to be a lot of work to pull that off, but right now it's really clear that we're not there yet at this early stage. And so that's why I'm thinking about what will that look like to bring in the different bureaus, to have more understanding of how we move forward with the right policy and right amendments. And that makes me think about the economic the economic opportunity analysis and how it impacts each study. Is that being done with all of this? Are we going to hear those economic opportunity analysis on that?
185 I am not as familiar. I'll say right up front with the status of the economic opportunity analysis. However, it is ongoing and urban forestry staff are participating in that. I don't.
186 What other.
187 Bureaus or who who else within the city are you working with on that?
188 That is led by bureau of planning and sustainability. Okay. And so we are working with them, and I can't speak to how other bureaus are involved.
189 So it's worth to will. Will will work through that together too.
190 I would expect that. That's correct.
191 At least. Maybe more.
192 Yeah. Maybe more.
193 It's that big right?
194 Okay. So I think as we move forward, knowing how the different. Business operations of the city are working on this. So right now we're hearing it from urban forestry. We know the impact is within almost every bureau. And again, when you're doing the work to improve our permitting processes, I always found this to be one of the most lively conversations because it did impact, it seemed all eight bureaus at that time. So I just don't want us to move forward without knowing that there was vetting and socializing and agreements. So then the people that are working with the city aren't stuck with this while they're trying to do their work. So we have to make sure our policy is clear enough and comprehensive enough that it brings in all those factors before we deliver it, and that's why it's so complex and why it's taken so long to get here.
195 Thanks.
196 Thank you, councilor Ryan. I don't see any other. Hands up. Any. Speak now or forever hold your peace until mid September, I guess.
197 Or or in between.
198 Or in between.
199 Send it over.
200 Not in a climate committee. All right. Thank you all so much for being here and for sharing your expertise and all of the outreach that's been done. I look forward to partnering with you until this comes back to us in mid September. So appreciate all of your time. Thank you. Our next meeting is going to be on Thursday, August 11th, and I'll note that the committee is only meeting once in August because of council recess later in the month. So for our August meeting, we're anticipating a comprehensive plan 101 presentation from our colleagues at the bureau of planning and sustainability. And with that, with nine minutes back, I will adjourn the climate committee meeting at 1121.